Fat Joe is standing by his beloved New York Knicks despite their devastating loss to the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Playoffs semifinals.
The Knicks lost to the Pacers by 21 points in game seven of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday (May 19) on their home turf at Madison Square Garden. Though they’ve been eliminated from the 2024 Playoffs, Joey Crack is proud that his team made it that far.
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“I’m proud of my team. So proud of them. Unfortunately, you gotta lose to win,” he said on Instagram Live shortly after the game. “Like we saw with OKC and we saw with all these other young teams, for some reason, they gotta lose to get that experience — to get that final instinct so they could win. ”
After shouting out the Pacers for their win, he went on to explain why Knicks fans were so passionate about this season.
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“When you lose 29 years — 29 years in a row! 29 years since the last game 7 — everyone wants to say the Knicks fans are exaggerated, we go too crazy. Nah, we been loyal fans. The arena been sold out for 29 years. A lot of y’all so-called real fans from other teams, y’all arenas be empty and you only come around when they winning at the end. Not Madison Square Garden! Sold out for 29 years.”
He then detailed the multiple injuries Knicks players suffered over the series, which he feels ultimately ended their season.
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“We ain’t got nothing to be sad about, we got nothing to be upset about,” he concluded. “We overachievers. I wanna salute the coach, I wanna salute the players, I wanna salute the fans. Hell of a run this year. We’ll be back next year.”
The Knicks’ season also brought Fat Joe and former enemy 50 Cent closer.
Their bitter feud between the two exploded in the mid 2000s with diss songs like “Piggy Bank” and “My FoFo,” resulting in a confrontation at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards that nearly turned physical. Both titans, however, have buried the hatchet since then and appear to have even become friends in recent years.
Last year, the Terror Squad boss gave Fif his flowers by crowning Get Rich or Die Tryin’ “one of the greatest albums of all time.”
Earlier this month, the former foes were seen sitting together courtside at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks took a 1–0 lead over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. After the thrilling 121–177 win, the G-Unit general and his peer were seen dapping each other and sharing a laugh as the entire arena reveled in the victory.
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Joey Crack posted a video of the moment on Instagram and wrote: “One down Let’s gooooooooo.”
The “Lean Back” rapper also shared another clip of Knicks star Josh Hart — who registered 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in a tireless 48-minute performance — embracing him and the Queens MC after the buzzer.
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While the two rappers’ courtside bonding will now be on pause, they surely have the forthcoming NBA season to look forward to.
