When Miles McBride was updated to ‘questionable’ for the first time since January, fans were decidedly nervous. He is one of the best microwave scorers in the league and a great fit to Jalen Brunson’s style. However, the New York Knicks are playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Apart from being defending champions, they’re not exactly the kindest on an easily aggravated injury. And on the night that Deuce McBride was supposed to make a triumphant comeback from sports hernia surgery, Knicks nation’s worst fears manifested. And Lu Dort is the subject of their ire.

The incident went down with about five minutes left in the third quarter. Both Lu Dort and Miles McBride dove for a loose ball. But the sequence was an ugly tangle of limbs.

Dort lost the ball under him and McBride fell right over him. The operating word being ‘over.’ Not one of Dort’s signature aggressive plays.

To add to an unfortunate altercation, Dort’s teammate, Jared McCain tried to steal the ball from under them. When he did that, he lifted McBride’s leg really high,

That cut McBride’s most celebrated comeback to only 11 minutes. Before the Knicks’ 111–100 loss, Deuce first went to the bench where he reportedly told his teammates, “I can’t f–king walk.” Yet he gingerly walked himself to the locker room. He was doubtful for the rest of the game but didn’t return.

The update following the game did little to ease the anxiety of a Knicks fan base already dealing with the absence of Landry Shamet (knee). Too bad for Lu Dort, his notoriety is working against him here.

Lu Dort’s infamy has Knicks and Thunder fans clashing

So far the Knicks have not confirmed if McBride aggravated the same injury once more. Head coach Mike Brown admitted the uncertainty of the situation. “I haven’t talked to medical yet so I don’t know how it is, but it’s tough,” Brown said. “He’s worked his tail off to be back and I don’t think he made a shot in the first half but he gave us a lift. You felt his presence and he made us deeper.”

As Brown confirmed, McBride’s deep impact on the rotation makes this a potentially painful setback. Knicks fans weren’t dealing with it well at all. Frustrated fans blamed Brown and the Knicks for it, lamenting, “Dam why would his first game back be against Lu Dort come on bruh,” while others noted the inevitability of the matchup: “Without seeing the clip you already know it involved Lu Dort.”

For many Knicks supporters, seeing McBride go down in a scrum with one of the league’s most physical defenders felt like a recurring nightmare. The snide jabs ranged from the subtle, “Look who’s at the scene of the crime every time,” to the blunt, “It’s always Lu Dort man.”

The concern was validated when the team officially listed McBride as out for the upcoming game in Charlotte due to “rehab from sports hernia surgery,” suggesting a significant aggravation of the original injury. As tensions flared, even the referees were slammed, “Side note: this was called a kick ball instead of a jump ball. Refs have been horrific tonight which is normal playing against OKC.”

Even Jared McCain got a lot of blame. “McCain yanking on his leg while he’s down I doubt helped much,” suggested a fan. Some, though, felt the blame was being unfairly deflected to Dort.

Defending the play, one observer argued, “This isn’t even Dort’s fault, he dived straight towards the ball. McBride dived at an angle and pulled something on his own, this isn’t dirty at all.”

The nature of the hustle play itself became a debate. “Deuce McBride dribbled the ball off his own foot, dove on top of Dort to try to secure the ball, and hurt himself. Of course you morons are going to try to blame this on Dort.”

Others illustrated the casualty of high-effort basketball. “Yall blaming Dort just because of having a past of being dirty or yall genuinely think he purposely hurted someone by diving for a loose ball like McBride was doing ? I’m genuinely lost.”

Despite Dort’s history, like most recently his altercations with Nikola Jokic, the Thunder faithful made their support loud. “YALL CAN CALL DORT WHATEVER. HE’S LITERALLY MAKING PLAY. KNICKS ARE SOFT.”