The Knicks visited the defending champions, the Thunder, tonight in Oklahoma’s Paycom Center and came away with a 100-111 loss. This game marked Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks bench after being sidelined for 28 games due to a pelvic core muscle surgery and a left ankle injury as well.
Midway through the third quarter, McBride and Lu Dort dove for a loose ball together in a play that seemingly aggravated McBride’s old injury. McBride immediately grabbed his pelvic region, subbed out of the game, and limped back to the locker room, clearly in pain.
Deuce McBride first game back from hernia surgery heads to locker room holding similar area after hitting floor with Lu Dort pic.twitter.com/P3HpiRj0nR
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 30, 2026
McBride exited the game and did not return for the rest of the night. He finished with one rebound, one assist, and one block in just 11 minutes of action.
NBA fans somehow blamed this on Lu Dort, who is developing a bit of a reputation around the league for always being involved in these controversial plays.
“Damn, why would his first game back be against Lu Dort? Come on, bruh.”
“It’s always Lu Dort, man.”
“Without seeing the clip, you already know Lu Dort is involved.”
“Of course, it’s Lu Dort again.”
“Dort needs to be unemployed, man, you can’t have a guy doing this stuff weekly.”
“It’s almost like Dort plays like a bounty hunter.”
Various such reactions flooded the internet, accusing Dort of being dirty. Following the game, Mike Brown also addressed Miles McBride’s situation while also throwing shade at officials.
“I haven’t talked to medical yet, so I don’t know how it is. It’s tough. He worked his tail off to be back,” said Brown.
But honestly, this was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because he didn’t even do anything unsportsmanly and clearly dove for the foul without any intentions of hurting Dort.
However, on another play in the same game, Dort once again came under the scrutiny of the Knicks’ fans when he ran through Josh Hart, who had set what was eventually called an illegal screen on him, even though it was clearly Dort who recklessly ran over Hart.
Like this is not basketball I’m sorry pic.twitter.com/0mSKFGCYAg
— sam 🫥 (@lbf_mas) March 30, 2026
Therefore, as much as the McBride incident seemed like a coincidence, Dort’s intentions can correctly be called into question here. This is not the first time Dort has come under fire from NBA fans for his actions.
He has had several instances this season, like against star players like Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic, for his controversial and overly aggressive defensive tactics.
Fans even felt that Jayson Tatum intentionally missed the Celtics’ meeting with the Thunder to avoid the threat to his injury recovery. Subsequently, Jaylen Brown even called him out for his defensive tactics in that game and incessant fouling.
Thus, considering the reputation that Dort has built for himself, it is not surprising that injured players are apparently holding back on returning against him. We hope that McBride is not forced into another extended stretch of absence after not playing since January until tonight.
The Knicks fell to 48-27 following this loss and are third in the East currently. They are now headed to Houston to face the Rockets on Tuesday night, March 31.
Meanwhile, the Thunder improved to 59-16, 2.5 games clear of the Spurs for the first seed in the West. They are going to host the Pistons tomorrow night, in a battle of the No. 1 seeds in the respective conferences.
