Spike Lee bailed on his New York Knicks’ courtside seat for the rest of the season. Maybe he can commiserate with former Knicks enforcer Charles Oakley, anywhere but inside Madison Square Garden.
Lee had enough of being held by security in a dispute over his proper entrance to a Knicks game when he invoked the name of executive chairman James Dolan’s No. 1 nemesis and fellow Garden agitator.
“You want to arrest me like Charles Oakley?” Lee shouted at security Monday night.
The wild scene at MSG was enough to trigger Oakley, who had his spat in 2017 when he was arrested after an altercation with security officials. Watching Lee, the Oscar-winning writer-director, go through another dust-up had Oakley feeling as if he was in some sort of sequel to He Got (Kicked Out of The) Game.
“It’s got to be stopped in some kind of way,” Oakley told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday night. “The NBA has got to take a look at this. You can’t keep closing your eyes to this. This is like, turn your head if you see someone beat somebody up and you just keep walking. It just keeps happening in New York. People are not going to come here because it’s the same thing over and over and over. They got a new president and all everyone is talking about what happened between Spike Lee and the Garden.”
The incident occurred on the first night on the job for Leon Rose, the longtime player agent who was hired Monday as team president.
“I know Leon. He’s a great guy,” Oakley said. “But hey, this is something probably (former President Barack) Obama can’t fix.”
Oakley’s lawsuit against Dolan and Madison Square Garden, stemming from his ejection from a game and ensuing arrest three years ago, was dismissed last month.
MSG called for “peace between us” when a federal judge dismissed Oakley’s claim, though the rebounding machine said he will appeal.
“There should have been peace anyway,” Oakley said. “I played there 10 years. Show me some respect. They keep me disrespecting me. I feel sorry for the people who stuff keeps happening to. It’s just not right.”
Judge Richard J. Sullivan ruled last month in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the case “had the feel of a public relations campaign” and Oakley hadn’t alleged a plausible legal claim under federal pleading standards.
Oakley had alleged assault, battery and false imprisonment, along with defamation after Dolan and the Knicks implied he had a problem with alcohol. Oakley was sitting near Dolan at a game on Feb. 8, 2017. He was approached by security soon after arriving and began to scuffle with them before he was removed from his seat and arrested.
“I didn’t do nothing,” Oakley said. “I got drug out and talked about like I was a person laying in the street.”
The Knicks’ latest case happened Monday night when a video circulated online during New York’s 125-123 victory over Houston showing Lee getting frustrated and yelling at Garden security outside an elevator, leading to confusion that he may have been thrown out of the building. However, a Knicks spokesman said that was untrue and that it was simply an issue of Lee using the wrong entrance.
Lee said he has been using the employee entrance on 33rd Street for more than two decades as a season ticket holder. The Knicks wanted him to use the entrance for celebrities, which is two blocks away.
Lee told ESPN on Tuesday he wouldn’t be attending another Knicks home game this season.
“This doesn’t damage Spike Lee,” Oakley said. “This does damage to the fans at the game. The fans who watch on TV. And of the NBA. To see one of the franchise owners keep acting like this, it’s just bad.”
The Knicks are 19-42 and headed toward their seventh straight season out of the playoffs.
“I ain’t ever seen a team lose make this much news,” Oakley said. “Maybe the Dallas Cowboys.”
___
AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
