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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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Draymond Green didn't hold back when it came to blasting New York Knicks fans after their postgame celebration of a Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers went a bit too far several nights ago.
The Knicks took care of business at Madison Square Garden to start the series with a 137-98 blowout. Understandably, Knicks fans were fired up afterward, with a large crowd celebrating out on the city streets, even surrounding former Knicks player JR Smith.
Smith, who never won an NBA Championship with the Knicks but won two as LeBron James' teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers, got knocked over during the rowdy celebration. Smith wasn't harmed during the incident, but the celebratory mayhem could worsen.
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According to Green, the Knicks fans need to settle down when it comes to that sort of thing. He suggested the current players don't care about how many former Knicks teams some fans might have seen lose in the playoffs, because they weren't on those teams.
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"I saw y'all after Game 1. Y'all had JR surrounded, and all this stuff, and I'm just saying you cannot celebrate these things like this. I told y'all before. You have a parade after you win a second round, how you going to win the conference finals, if we had the parade already? So I’m just telling y'all Knicks fans, I know that it's been a rough go and I know it's taking a while, but don't blow it," he said.
Green also suggested that many fans are making it about themselves and the "tough journey" they've been through as Knicks fans their whole lives.
"I'ma tell you a little secret, Knicks fans, those current players don't give a [expletive] about your journey before, they don't give a damn that all of those teams before were getting their [expletive] kicked, those current players, it wasn't them, they don't give a damn," he said on his "Draymond Green" podcast.
Green has been in the headlines quite a bit recently despite his team's inability to win enough play-in games to get into the NBA Playoffs. He made remarks regarding Warriors head coach Steve Kerr that caught many people off guard, and he has recently been in an online beef with former NBA player Austin Rivers.
The four-time NBA Champion seems spot on in at least telling the fans to wait a bit longer before celebrating their moment. New York's previous postseason run ended in disappointment, courtesy of Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers.
This year, they'll face either the No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons or the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams could prove difficult to topple, with star players such as Cade Cunningham and Donovan Mitchell, who have not yet reached the NBA Finals.
The Knicks' series against the Philadelphia 76ers looks like it could be over pretty quickly, based on a pregame report via Shams Charania that Joel Embiid will miss Game 2 on Wednesday with ankle and hip injuries.
That could mean another huge blowout in Madison Square Garden and more cause for celebration out in the streets of NYC after the win, regardless of Green's recent message.
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