New York City was not kind to Brian Windhorst following Friday’s game.
Video went viral over the weekend of the ESPN commentator Windhorst being confronted by a New York Knicks fan after the team’s Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. The victory by the Knicks gave them a 4-2 series win and clinched their very first conference finals appearance since 2000.
Windhorst was walking back to his hotel from the arena after the game and was accosted by the fan, who filmed the entire interaction. At first, the fan asked Windhorst, “How do you feel about Boston losing?” When Windhorst began to answer, the fan cut him off and dropped multiple celebratory expletives in Windhorst’s face.
“I don’t give a f–k!” the fan yelled at Windhorst, who smiled back in disbelief. “Knicks in six, p—y! So call that s–t now! Call that s–t now! What you about to say!”
You can see the viral video here (but obviously beware of the loud, foul language).
Windhorst faced accusations of being biased against the Knicks throughout the course of the second-round series. Even after the Knicks won both games on the road in Boston and later went on to take a 3-1 series lead after Celtics star Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles, Windhorst was very hesitant on ESPN to give the Knicks credit.
.@WindhorstESPN is starting to believe that the Celtics-Knicks Game 3 winner will take the series pic.twitter.com/33bU8fHo3w
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 9, 2025
Brian Windhorst: First off, I'm not giving the series to the Knicks yet. I believe the Celtics will rally from this"
Translation: I cannot stand to see the Knicks play well and I'm rooting for the Boston Celtics to come back and win!" pic.twitter.com/0coQyKNo01
— EverythingKnicks (@EverythinKnicks) May 13, 2025
Brian Windhorst is a GENERATIONAL Knicks hater pic.twitter.com/L0VABQUdP5
— Alex B. (@KnicksCentral) May 6, 2025
Interestingly enough, Windhorst knew that his comments were rubbing Knicks fans the wrong way. After the Knicks’ series-clinching Game 6 win, Windhorst even said that he would be “fine” walking back to his hotel.
Brian Windhorst right before the viral moment of the Knicks fan confronting him
“I'm just walking to my hotel, I'll be fine"
(h/t @MrBuckBuckNBA)pic.twitter.com/jih3GOOjFK
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 17, 2025
Knicks fans are notoriously passionate, especially now that their team is in the conference finals for the first time in many of their lifetimes. They also taunted the Celtics’ team bus following the Game 6 victory, and not even ESPN personalities were safe from their jeers after the game either.