Knicks fans travel well, especially when there is a series sweep on offer. The Philadelphia 76ers' home arena was bursting with belligerent New Yorkers during Game 4 of the second round, and that augured grim possibilities for the Cleveland Cavaliers headed into what would be the final game of the Eastern Conference Final on Monday night. Would Cavs owner Dan Gilbert be able to keep Knicks fans from entering his arena and dicking around while his team got swept like chumps? More importantly, would he be able to keep the rich and famous Knicks fans off the floor?
One surefire way to keep Timothee Chalamet from stunting on you in your own building is to not be ass and go down 0-3 in a series. With that option foreclosed, Gilbert and the Cavs chose instead to leverage the power of legalese. Fat Joe became this controversy's whistleblower when he went on an ESPN pregame show and disclosed that, despite purchasing courtside tickets for Game 4, he was informed by the Cavs that his tickets were cancelled and that he was being moved back a few rows. "We had bought some courtside tickets to the game, and then once they found out it was superfan Fat Joe, it was like, I can't sit courtside. New York Knick fans can't sit courtside," said Fat Joe. "They took the tickets away."
Knicks beat writer Stefan Bondy did some additional reporting and talked to 10 other Knicks fans who had purchased courtside seats, only to receive a phone call from a Cavs executive telling them that they were being moved to a different section. When asked to explain why this was happening, the Cavs provided Bondy with a statement:
“Playoff courtside seating is governed by a specific agreement that prohibits the resale or transfer of tickets without approval,” a Cavaliers spokesperson told The Post. “All courtside ticket holders are required to comply with the terms of the single-game playoff agreement.”
None of this ended up making a difference. The Cavs went out sad, by a score of 130-93. It seems that when James Harden looked into the crowd and saw Vivek Ramaswamy staring back at him instead of Fat Joe, he was not motivated to put the city on his back. He scored 12 points on 2-of-8 shooting.
The Cavs' ban on celebrity Knicks fans sitting courtside wasn't even that strongly enforced. The usual crew of famous Knicks fans were still front-and-center, sitting a row or two back from the hardwood, and at some point Chalamet, Kylie Jenner, and Tracy Morgan moved down to vacated seats on the floor. Chalamet got there just in time to shout "White boys!" at Tyler Kolek after a garbage-time three-pointer, and then got to spend the postgame yukking it up with Knicks players on the court.
Gilbert does deserve some credit, though, if only for inconveniencing stupid shit-man Jason Calacanis, who also had his courtside ticket taken away before the game. A dipshit who still owes Defector $500,000 shouldn't be so quick to complain about getting screwed over by a rich guy.
