Former New York Knicks star Stephon Marbury has urged the team to give ‘dirty’ Victor Wembanyama a taste of his own medicine when they meet the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
After winning twice on the road to storm into a 2-0 lead, the Knicks failed to move to within one victory of their first championship since 1973 in Game 3 on Monday night.
The Spurs instead battled back to secure a 115-111 win at Madison Square Garden and revive their hopes of NBA glory, leaving the series perfectly poised at 2-1.
During Game 3 in the Big Apple, 7ft 4in San Antonio star Wembanyama sparked fury when he was seen sending Knicks hero Jalen Brunson tumbling to the floor by shoving him on the back of the head.
Despite Brunson being violently thrown to the ground, he was not punished over the controversial incident.
And now Marbury, who spent five of his 13 NBA seasons with the Knicks before a lengthy stint in China, has sent a chilling message to his old team about Wembanyama, telling them to ‘put a knife in his back’ when they step onto the court again.
Former New York Knicks star Stephon Marbury has urged the team to gain revenge on ‘dirty’ Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama threw Jalen Brunson to the floor as the San Antonio Spurs prevailed in Game 3
‘Wemby is an international, they play dirty overseas just so you know,’ the three-time Chinese Basketball Association champion and seven-time All-Star said in a video on Instagram. ‘We’re not used to playing dirty in America the way how Wemby just now threw Jalen Brunson.
‘Now If I’m watching film and I see Wemby throw somebody on my team… the next game I’m gonna pop him in his rib cage so hard with my elbow that he’s going to fall and drop to the ground and he’s going to wish he never put his hands on me.
‘So next game, I guarantee you, after y’all watch film what he did to Jalen Brunson… you better make sure you put that knife in his neck. That’s where it’s at.’
After the loss, Brunson was asked in his postgame press conference about the altercation with Wembanyama and whether the level of physicality bothered him.
‘No, to answer your second question,’ he responded. ‘And whatever you saw is what you saw.’
Footage has emerged of an animated Donald Trump appearing to complain to NBA commissioner Adam Silver during the Knicks’ tempestuous clash with the Spurs at MSG.
Trump was among the crowd in New York as San Antonio cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1 heading into Game 4, and at one point in the game he could be seen gesturing animatedly towards the court and shaking his head while speaking to Silver.
Knicks superstar Brunson was also floored in a nasty collision with Stephon Castle (left)
After being thrown over by Wembanyama, Brunson was also floored in a nasty collision with Stephon Castle, and Knicks head coach Mike Brown was left furious with the officiating.
Following his team’s loss, Brown complained about the fact that the Spurs shot 24 free throws in the second half compared to New York’s eight.
‘I never thought I’d see that in an NBA Finals game, and I saw it tonight,’ he said after his team’s 13-game postseason winning streak was ended.
Trump, meanwhile, claimed he heard ‘mostly cheers’ when he appeared on the jumbotron during the performance of the national anthem at MSG.
That is despite the White House pool report noting that the President was ‘thunderously booed’ by the crowd.
