The FIFA World Cup fever even caught the NBA world, especially the New York Knicks fanbase. They started comparing Jalen Brunson to Lionel Messi. Two undersized superstars dominating the stage led fans to draw such a comparison. In fact, even a Knicks guard compared the two, only to backtrack his opinion after the final.

Spain dominated the entire time against Argentina. Lionel Messi’s chance of winning back-to-back World Cups came to an end with an unimpressive performance. Seeing this performance, long-time soccer fan Josh Hart, who is the New York Knicks shooting guard, knew he had to reverse his statement.

He wrote just two words in his X post: “I lied”.

It garnered close to 2 million views. It was a quote tweet to his previous statement of directly comparing the Knicks to Messi’s team. He had written, “Argentina = Knicks,” earlier this month.

That tweet had over 5 million views. The nature of the comebacks Argentina had during the WC is why the comparisons are made.

Argentina smoothly sailed through Group J with clean-sheet wins over Algeria and Austria. They also had a 3-1 win over Jordan. Their knockout matches required miraculous turnarounds. Then came the Round of 16. Argentina fell into a shocking 2-0 deficit against Egypt. After a missed Lionel Messi penalty, Argentina mounted an incredible three-goal blitz in the final few minutes.

Cristian Romero and Messi scored quick equalizers before Enzo Fernández struck a dramatic 92nd-minute winner.

Then, in the semifinals against England, Argentina went down 1-0 in the second half. Coach Lionel Scaloni’s tactical substitutions, however, turned the tide. It allowed Fernández to equalize from distance in the 85th minute and Lautaro Martínez to head home a 92nd-minute winner.

But now, let us come to the Knicks.

The Knicks completely rewrote the history books in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden by pulling off an impossible 29-point turnaround. Jalen Brunson exploded for 36 points and bench guard Jose Alvarado provided a massive fourth-quarter spark to anchor a furious rally. In Game 5, the Knicks fell into an early hole, trailing by 16 points to a desperate Spurs squad.

Jalen Brunson put on a legacy-defining performance, dropping 45 total points—including 15 critical points in the fourth quarter. He won the MVP award and became the King of New York. No wonder people compared both teams, but now Josh Hart has backtracked.

Here’s the thing: Argentina’s special comeback wins were marred by some referee decisions. That narrative continued in the final, when some felt Lionel Messi’s teammates should have received more yellow cards. So, when Spain won the World Cup, many fans, including Shannon Sharpe, were happy.

He tweeted, “They tried everything 2 help Argentina. Spain sits atop the soccer Universe. Mbappe is your Golden Boot winner.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾.”

Even Bulls legend Scottie Pippen commented, “Congrats Spain! 🇪🇸🏆”.

So, it seems the World Cup had even the NBA world excited.