Tyrese Haliburton can’t hear Knicks fans.
The Pacers’ star guard who earned villain status in New York after eliminating the Knicks in back-to-back postseasons said the Madison Square Garden crowd is too celebrity-centric and not loud enough.
“A place like New York, they have a lot of passionate fans, and people love the Knicks, but there are a lot of celebrities in there who sometimes get too cool to be super loud,” Haliburton said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday.
Haliburton then made an exasperated face when describing the Oklahoma City environment and how hard it is to play there, with Indiana having lost to the Thunder in seven games in last year’s Finals.
He suffered a torn Achilles in Game 7 that ultimately sidelined him for the entire 2025-26 season.
“I think OKC does a great job with kind of having that like college environment in there,” Haliburton continued. “It’s pretty ridiculously loud, so I would say it’s the best environment.”
McAfee joked with Haliburton about the comments regarding the Knicks fans being too cool for school.
“Well, you’re saying that Ben Stiller is not going crazy? (Timothée) Chalamet was losing his mind! You better watch your mouth if you talk about Tracy Morgan like this, OK!”
Haliburton has quite the history with New York and its fans.
He and the Pacers defeated the Knicks in six games in the conference finals last year as the local ran out of gas behind former coach Tom Thibodeau.
The Pacers also eliminated the Knicks in the semifinals in seven games the previous season.
The conference finals began with a heart-wrenching buzzer-beater from Haliburton in Game 1 to send to the contest to overtime, with the guard grabbing his throat to signal a choke as Reggie Miller did before.
While the Knicks have mostly the same roster this season, this team is completely different.
The Knicks employ lineup of 11 players deep and get excellent use of their bench under new coach Mike Brown, who invested in his bench from the get-go and has seen dividends pay off in the postseason.
Brown has elicited phenomenal performances from Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet, Miles McBride, and more en route to a dominant NBA Finals run.
Knicks fans have rallied behind them, creating one of the loudest home crowds in the NBA and traveling well to Cleveland and Philadelphia during this raucous run.
After Game 1’s comeback over the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, Ringer founder and podcaster Bill Simmons said that the Knicks fans were “the best crowd of the year” as they cheered their squad to a 22-point comeback in less than eight minutes.
