“I told y’all, dawg! Y’all so delusional! Maybe next year… or, maybe never…” That was Paul Pierce, reveling in the Knicks’ Game 2 loss to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics legend hasn’t let up on Jalen Brunson and company since they bounced his former team in six games. And let’s be real—if you can’t watch your squad win, the next best thing is watching the team that sent them packing fall flat. Now, with Game 3 underway, Pierce is back doing what he does best: throwing shade with no filter.

Having secured a 58-45 lead at halftime, it seems that the Indiana Pacers are headed for a 3rd consecutive win. Securing this win, along with another one, would make this squad the first Pacers one, since the 1999-2000 season, to qualify for the NBA Finals, and 2nd overall! Rejoicing in this fact, Paul Pierce once again trolled the Knicks crowd by writing, “Why everyone so quiet”. Yikes!

This wasn’t the first message that the 2008 Celtics champion wrote, in recent days, to take a shot at the Knicks. The Knicks fanbase is reportedly known to be highly vocal and passionate. Therefore, after Game 2, Paul Pierce found it perfect to write “The Knicks got cauliflower ears right now,” followed by several laughing emojis. Cauliflower ears, a term usually reserved for boxing, means when someone gets repeated blows to their head and around the ear, and it tends to resemble the shape of a cauliflower. Before that, after the Knicks’ memorable Game 1 loss in overtime, he wrote on X, “Folded”, followed by a ‘Man Shrugging’ emoji.

Paul Pierce’s hatred for the New York Knicks isn’t anything newfound. It developed gradually throughout his 19-year career in the NBA. The same continued even when he joined the Brooklyn Nets in 2013, basically becoming neighbours. In an August 2013 interview with Complex, he admitted that he hates the Knicks “with a passion” and urged his then-new team to “start the beef.” He also reportedly promised that by the time he’s done, New York will be a Nets town, not a Knicks one. Pierce only hated the NY-based franchise from early on, but not the fanbase. In the same interview, he revealed that “It’s been all love here. The fans of New York are very knowledgeable about the game of basketball. They love their sports here. It’s definitely respect”. Now, being a retired player, he can target the fans too in his tweets.

While Paul Pierce was having his fun, the same could not have been said for everyone. For Knicks fans, if their team was losing, then there was a pretty good reason behind it. A reason used by many fans, in both winning and losing instances, over the course of the tournament.

NBA fans blame referees for Knicks trailing the Pacers in Game 3: “Dictate the whole game”

One social media user wrote, “These refs are horrible hate the NBA Brunson gets fouled hip checked and everything is marginal contact I hate ref I hate the nba and they dictate the whole game”.

Criticism against NBA referees in regards to their officiating isn’t anything new. From Suns HC Monty Williams being fined $20,000 for retaliating at the referee, to Anthony Edwards being fined $75,000 for criticizing the referees by stating “They’re f***ing terrible”, even NBA stars have raised their voice, but also paid the price for doing so. When already possessing 2 losses, fans would be looking to find faults wherever they can. Therefore, no one can blame them for finding faults in the officiating if it is there.

One individual wrote, “So hot the refs call bs fouls on the Knicks and ignore every foul the pacers commit”.

By the time the game ended, the Pacers had shot 33 free throws in comparison to the Knicks’ 30. Both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, the two key players in the Knicks’ overall play, had drawn 5 fouls each. A key moment of frustration within the game occurred when Tyrese Haliburton reportedly initiated contact, KAT responded, called a defensive foul on the floor, and it was overturned to an offensive! Amidst all this, along with the fact that the game is taking place at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, one can easily jump to the conclusion that something is fishy.

One social media user wrote, “Yeah i think the nba want.knicks out quicker than that.. they hate good ratings, they could at least spend some money on education for the refs.. this is truly the worst ive seen these playoffs. And i saw the nuggets/thunder series”.

The league certainly did not do itself a favor, from the public opinion part, when it called in Scott Foster to officiate the game. Despite being amongst the most experienced referees in the modern NBA, Foster has earned the nickname of ‘The Extender’, over the years. All thanks to reports of fans being convinced that Foster was assigned to playoff games when the league wants the series to go longer. If he can make a series longer, allegedly, then he can certainly make them shorter, too.

One individual wrote, “I’m sick and tired of watching the refs being the pacers star players”.

To get a more specific understanding of what the calls are doing to the fans, one has to look at Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which was attended by stars like Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller. The ‘Dune’ star was reportedly not too happy with the referees and even noticeably reacted to a call during the first half of the game.

One social media user wrote “I told you the refs already know who the nba wants to go to the finals they been doing this sh*t every game”. In his criticism of the Game 1 officiating, TNT’s Stan Van Gundy targeted one particular incident, and said “It was a goaltend and that was huge. That was huge because – four-point lead, you get the steal, you’re coming down on the break, they call a goaltend, it’s six. Instead, the ball stays in play in transition and Nembhard hits the corner three from Haliburton. That was a huge, huge play in the game on a missed goaltend. Usually, what we’ve seen in the playoffs, on those that are really close on the goaltend, they make the call so then they can take a look at it. But they didn’t make the call, so they couldn’t take a look at it. But on the replay, it got the board first. It should have been (a goaltend).”

Overall, the majority of people saw fans being united in calling out the alleged unfair officiating against the Knicks. In the end, it did not matter, as the Knicks were able to secure a close 106-100 win against the Indiana Pacers in Game 3. The players have gotten a brief breather, while fans have gotten the chance to gloat back at Paul Pierce. Whether the Knicks can add on to their 1-2 position is something that remains to be seen.