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Mayor Bloomberg Gives the Knicks an Assist

Did Mayor Mike help knock Stephen Jackson out of a game?

by
Adam Chandler
January 04, 2013
Stephen Jackson (left), Michael Bloomberg (right)(NYDN)
Stephen Jackson (left), Michael Bloomberg (right)(NYDN)

Last night the New York Knicks defeated the geriatric-yet-powerful San Antonio Spurs squad in a game at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks had strong showing from Carmelo Anthony who returned to score 23 points. After losing two straight games, the Knicks were badly in need of a win, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg knew that.

Bloomberg, who attended last night’s game, just happened to be within proximity of sideline incident that helped propel the Knicks to victory. In the first quarter, Spurs forward Stephen Jackson tripped over a waitress who was taking food and drink orders for court-side set.

The Knicks fan that she seemed to be closest to when Jackson took his tumble? Mayor Mike. The result? Jackson sprained his ankle and did not return for the rest of the game. Without Jackson, who has a career average of 16 points and three assists per game, the Knicks beat the Spurs by 17.

Don’t believe me? Check out the video:

Adding fuel to the conspiratorial fire, before the game even happened, Bloomberg dropped by a taping of the Jimmy Fallon Show where Fallon presented Bloomberg with some nifty photoshop work of the mayor appearing to be a player on the Brooklyn Nets. Was it subterfuge? Or does Bloomberg help all the New York area teams win whenever possible?

It certainly helped last night. Although J.R. Smith’s 20 points off the bench, including this insane alley-oop, and the general fatigue/age facing the Spurs may have also contributed.

Knicks Get An Assist from Mayor Bloomberg in Win Over Spurs [NYDN]

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.