Julius Randle made some interesting comments about the New York Knicks fans after the team dramatically beat the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. The C’s held a big lead but the Knicks crawled back into the game, ultimately winning with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from RJ Barrett.
Besides Barrett, Evan Fournier and Julius Randle stole the attention during the game. The latter scored 22 points, to go along with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He sent a message to the Knicks supporters after making a shot, giving a thumbs down to the fans attending the game.
Following the game, Randle was asked about the meaning of that gesture and he didn’t mince words to explain what he tried to say.
“Shut the f*ck up.”
That message didn’t sit well with many people, including Charles Barkley, who sided with the fans and wondered why players think they should be celebrated when they’re underperforming. During Thursday’s edition of NBA on TNT, Chuck had this to say:
“I never understand why players think you are supposed to be cheered when you’re playing bad,” said Barkley, via R.P Salao of Clutch Points. “No, you’re gonna get booed when you’re playing bad and you’re gonna get cheered when you win. … Are they supposed to cheer when you’re playing bad? As a player, this is the way this thing works. We ain’t doctors. We ain’t lawyers. If you play good, people cheer you. If you play bad, people boo you. That’s the deal you make with fans.”
Kenny Smith also sounded off on this situation, explaining that fans are there to celebrate or call you out. Besides, he said that Randle shouldn’t give him much importance to that seeing how ruthless Knicks fans can be.
“They’re there to cheer and to boo,” said Smith. “There’s only two things you can do as a fan, cheer or boo. He shouldn’t engage in the fans. He’s too good a player. He’s an NBA All-Star. He doesn’t have to engage with 19,000 people that really want to cheer him. But when they’re not cheering, and the Knicks are losing, everyone knows that is a city that’s going to boo their team.”
Kenny Smith's response to Julius Randle saying his 'thumbs down' gesture to the MSG crowd meant "shut the f**k up."
https://t.co/06RaeWmbqs
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 7, 2022
This isn’t the first or the last time we’ve seen fans booing their own players. It’s happened in every sport and competition, not just in the NBA. Randle must improve his level if he wants to get the love he received last season, where he earned the call to the All-Star and was an All-NBA player. The Knicks know they have a great player in Randle, but they have struggled to keep things going this season.
Hopefully, they can turn things around and emulate or improve what they did last campaign.
