The New York Knicks played their most disastrous game of the season so far on Wednesday night.
They lost. As a standalone fact, that’s far from remarkable. New York has lost 36 times this year in the 49 games they’ve played, and even their margin of defeat yesterday — a 127-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies — wasn’t out of the norm, going down as the 13th time this season they’ve lost by 20 or more points.
But everything beyond the box score did stand out.
During the teams’ respective post-game scrums, Marcus Morris made misogynistic comments while venting his post-loss frustrations.
“He play the game a different way,” Morris said when asked about how Grizzlies’ forward Jae Crowder played throughout the night. “A lot of female tendencies on the court, flopping, and throwing his head back the entire game. It’s a man’s game and you just get tired of it.”
On their face, the comments are unacceptable and inappropriate in any context. Drawing parallels between women and a negative way of playing the game is blatantly disrespectful, and basketball itself is not “a man’s game,” as Morris said, but a sport for all people.
Morris, for his part, did apologize on Twitter shortly after.
“I apologize for using the term ‘female tendencies,'” Morris tweeted. “I have the upmost respect for women and everything they mean to us. It was a heat of the moment response and I never intended for any women to feel as though in any way I’m disrespecting them.”
The following day, Morris expanded on that initial apology. His amendments were directed to Elizabeth Cambage, a WNBA star who plays for the Las Vegas Aces, who criticized both Morris’ initial post-game comments and the framing of his apology.
“I apologize if I offended you wit (sic) my comments in anyway,” Morris replied on Twitter. “I truly respect women in every aspect in life. Wasn’t raised like that. I’m a big fan of yours and everything you have done for the WNBA and basketball in general.
“I was wrong to even use those terms and I’m very sorry to all Women for my comments. Just to be clear I wasn’t at any point trying to take anything away women’s basketball. Your great at this game and even more amazing off the court. My apologies.”
The incident that appeared to incite Morris’ comments towards Crowder came near the end of the fourth quarter.
With 48.1 seconds left in an already decided game, Crowder stole the ball off an inbound pass and attempted a three-pointer. Elfrid Payton took offence to him shooting instead of dribbling out the shot clock and shoved Crowder to the court.
“I’m standing on it,” Payton said after the game. “I’d do it again. It doesn’t matter who took that shot. Don’t disrespect the game like that.”
Further shoving followed and a commotion ensued, with players from both the Grizzlies and Knicks rushing into the fray. The NBA has not yet issued any comment on if there will be consequences for the on-court events or Morris’ post-game comments.
While the referees were trying to sift through the mess, a distinct chant echoed off the walls of Madison Square Garden.
“Sell the team. Sell the team. Sell the team,” fans yelled.
Their message, brief but clear, was delivered to Knicks owner James Dolan, who was seen leaving through the arena tunnel shortly after.
The game resumed, the buzzer sounded, the Knicks ended the night having found a way to turn a bad loss into something worse.
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