Ben Stiller didn’t see it coming.
In the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, ESPN and WWE commentator Pat McAfee took the microphone at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana — and took aim at a few high-profile Knicks fans.
“We got some bigwigs from the big city in the building,” McAfee said, riling up the Indiana Pacers’ home crowd. “Spike Lee is here. Ben Stiller is here. Timothée Chalamet is here. Let’s send these sons of b—hes back to New York with their ears ringing!”
It was an untelevised moment that McAfee later said was unscripted, with the arena’s emcee asking him to address the crowd about 30 to 45 seconds beforehand.
Afterward, Stiller described the moment as being “weird.”
“We were happy to be there and cheer our team,” Stiller wrote on the social-media site X, “and other than that, Indy fans were awesome.”
The rallying cry by McAfee, a former Indianapolis Colts punter, further perpetuated the small city vs. big city spat that has hung over the Knicks-Pacers rivalry since their frequent playoff bouts in the 1990s.
Some Indiana fans wore shirts reading “Hicks vs. Knicks,” a phrase dating back to those battles when Reggie Miller said he liked his “little hick team” against the Knicks, and the Daily News cemented it with a “KNICKS vs. HICKS” back page headline.
Many chanted “airball,” or “flopper” at Jalen Brunson, in the kinds of unified jeers that are typically more synonymous with college crowds.
And as Stiller alluded to in an interview with SNY on Wednesday, the famous faces on Madison Square Garden’s “Celebrity Row” are greeted with quick highlight videos followed by opportunities for fans to cheer.
“The WWE aspect, I get it. It’s just not the way it happens in New York. … He should come to the Garden for Game 5,” Stiller said of McAfee on SNY’s “The Putback with Ian Begley.”
“They’ll put him up on the screen and they’ll show him punting the ball, and everybody will give him a nice cheer,” Stiller said with a laugh. “That’s how we do it in New York.”
The McAfee moment added a little extra drama to an already tense Eastern Conference Finals
Each of the first four games were decided by nine points or fewer, and both teams pulled off a furious come-from-behind victory.
“I get it. It was fun,” Stiller said of McAfee. “I felt like he was just trying to get the crowd riled up. It was a little bit out of the blue. It’s also a little of a bit of like, ‘Are we really doing the narrative of ‘Hicks vs. Knicks? The bigwigs from New York.’ It just seems a little cartoonish, but then again it goes with the WWE.”
Stiller and Chalamet, both of whom are New York natives, have attended Knicks games, home and away, throughout the playoffs.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” McAfee said he grew up watching Stiller. He also praised Chalamet, who joined McAfee on ESPN’s “College Gameday” in December.
“‘Sons of b—hes’ was certainly not something that was on the mind until I was in the middle of it. It’s like, hmm, feel like we’ve got to bring a little bit of a hammer here,” McAfee said. “But would like to let them all know, mad respect for coming out. Mad respect for the amount of support they’re showing the New York Knicks. And also, all love.”
