The New York Knicks have had numerous battles in the playoffs with multiple teams with whom they went on to develop a certain rivalry eventually. Knicks fans are known to be ruthless when it comes to their basketball team. But who do you think is the most hated man by Knicks fans? Well, Kid Mero breaks down why Michael Jordan is atop of that list and why the New York Knicks fanbase still hates Mike.
Born and raised in New York, writer and comedian The Kid Mero grew up watching and rooting for the New York Knicks. Back in the 90s, the Knicks had Patrick Ewing and the rest of the squad that made the postseason consistently.
But when asked who the most hated player was by NY basketball fanatics, Michael Jordan was still sitting at the top of the list, despite being retired for over nearly three decades. Kid Mero recently made an appearance on The Dan LeBatard Show.
While on the podcast, the New York native was asked who was hated the most by Knicks fans and Mero went on to name the Chicago Bulls icon, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. He then went on to break down why.
“It’s Mike, man. It’s Michael Jordan, dog. Like, if you’re a real Knicks fan and you grew up and you were young because I was young in the 90s. I was like, in junior high elementary school. So, Mike broke my heart every year. So, he is like the ultimate villain because unlike Reggie Miller, unlike Alonzo Mourning, all those other guys, we could be them. It was like, ‘Yo, you’re beating these guys. You have a chance.’ With Mike, it was like, ‘Ah, now we gotta…It’s Thanos now.”
The New York Knicks faced off against the Chicago Bulls four times in the postseason during the 90s. The Knicks were always eliminated by Michael Jordan and the Bulls except for the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The 94’ ECSF between the Bulls and the Knicks series was an absolute battle where the Knicks finally prevailed over the Chicago hump. But that was also because Michael Jordan had retired and the series still managed to go to seven games.
As for Kid Mero’s statement, Michael Jordan has never lost a series to the New York Knicks in the playoffs. Mike always loved playing at Madison Square Garden and made sure to give the fans a show. So, there was no chance that Jordan would let his team lose a series while playing at MSG.
Moreover, Mero’s comparison of Jordan to Marvels’ villain Thanos seems like a perfect analogy as if; if the team was facing Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, the Knicks’ fate of being knocked out was inevitable.
New York just hates Michael Jordan
The hate was real between Michael Jordan and the New York Knicks was as real as it could get. It seemed as if the entire city didn’t hate the Chicago Bulls as much as they had sheer hatred for the guy donning the number 23 jersey.
Former New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy once called Michael Jordan a con man and went on to regret it shortly after as Jordan went off for a 51-point outing.
“New York coach Jeff Van Gundy…called him a con man, which prompted a season-high 51 on the Knicks. ‘His way is to befriend them, soften them up, try to make them feel he cares about them,’ Van Gundy had said. Then he goes out there and tries to destroy them. The first step as a player is to realize that and don’t go for it.”
All the hate that was spewing in New York against Michael Jordan almost prompted him to go play for the Knicks. And in 1996, seeing MJ in a Knicks jersey was about to come true but at the last moment, Mike went on to sign a historic one-year deal with the Bulls and the rest is history.
