Knicks' Immanuel Quickley says a fan at Madison Square Garden threw a beer at him
The opening round of the NBA playoffs has been overshadowed by repeated incidents of fan abuse toward players.
The documented incidents so far had involved home fans hurling objects, spit or epithets at visiting players and their families. That is until Immanuel Quickley revealed he was the object of bad behavior at Madison Square Garden.
The New York Knicks rookie told reporters on Monday that a fan threw a beer in his and teammate Nerlens Noel's direction during last Wednesday's Game 2 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
“Not sure why, not even sure who did it, but it happened,' Quickley said, per the New York Daily News. "I guess that’s part of having fans in the game.”
Bad week for NBA fans
Judging by the last week in the NBA, unruly behavior apparently is part of having fans at games. That same game, a Knicks fan was seen spitting at Hawks guard Trae Young. In Philadelphia on the same night, a 76ers fan dumped his popcorn on Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook.
Two days later the Utah Jazz barred three fans for hurling abusive language toward Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant's family as they watched in the stands. And on Sunday, police arrested a Boston Celtics fan after video revealed that he threw a water bottle at Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving.
Since neither Quickley nor video identified who threw the beer, it's not clear if he was the target of a home fan or one of the Hawks fans sprinkled through the Madison Square Garden crowd last Wednesday. And it doesn't really matter. Abusive behavior is abusive behavior.
It's just a little more jarring that a player playing in his home arena is subject to that kind of behavior.
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