Draymond Green Blasts Knicks for Not Playing Music During Game

The Knicks chose not to play music during a game against the Warriors on Sunday, and Draymond Green ripped them for doing it.

The Knicks decided not to play music during the first half of a game.
USA Today Sports

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Brad Penner

The Knicks decided not to play music during the first half of a game.

The Knicks made a strange decision prior to their game against the Warriors on Sunday afternoon. They decided that they weren’t going to play any music or show any videos on the JumboTron during the first half of the game at Madison Square Garden. And they let their fans know that they were doing it so that they could "experience the game in its purest form":

It was, well, weird. There are usually a variety of sights and sounds for fans to enjoy at NBA games. But the Knicks gave their fans absolutely none of that for an entire half. So MSG looked and sounded like this:

During the second half, things returned to normal. But after the game ended—Golden State won 112-105—there were several Warriors players who expressed their displeasure with the Knicks’ decision not to play any music. And Draymond Green in particular was especially pissed off about it. He went off on the Knicks for turning down the music during the game and said that he didn’t understand why they chose to do it in the first place.

"That was pathetic," Green said. "It was ridiculous. It changed the flow of the game. It changed everything. You get used to playing a certain way. It completely changed it. To me, I think it was completely disrespectful to everyone from [NBA Senior VP of Entertainment and Player Marketing] Michael Levine to [Warriors President and COO] Rick Welts and all these people who’ve done these things to change the game from an entertainment perspective. [It] gives the game a great vibe. That’s complete disrespect. You advance things in the world to make it better. You don’t go back to what was bad. It’s like, computers can do anything for us. It’s like going back to paper. Why would you do that? So it was ridiculous."

Green’s teammate Steph Curry and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr both agreed with his assessment, but no one was as passionate about arguing against the Knicks not playing music than Green. He said it changed the whole flow of the game in the first half as he continued to rip the Knicks for taking things back in time for two quarters.

"Did you see that first half?" Green said. "It was just bad, sloppy, all over the place. There was no rhythm to the game. All this stuff makes a difference in a game, believe it or not. You get in a rhythm…You turn on music, it just helps you get into a certain area, takes you to a certain place. I don’t think they were doing it to, like, throw us off, but it definitely threw the entire game off. They need to trash it. That’s exactly what they need to do."

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

The Knicks didn’t like the whole no-music approach, either. Kristaps Porzingis called it "weird," while Carmelo Anthony referred to it as "different."

But the Knicks didn’t seem to care what anyone thought about their decision not to play music. They conveniently left all of Green’s comments about it off a quote sheet that was handed out to reporters following his post-game interview:

And the team also refused to issue an official statement about the lack of music during the game.

Will the Knicks shut the music off again at some point this season? After the response it received, we doubt it. But who knows? They are the Knicks, so anything is possible.

Latest in Sports