Craig Carton ERUPTS Over NBA’s Wembanyama Decision & Knicks Game 4

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
Two o'clock straight up!
It's The Carton Show with Big Mac on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon in New York City. And we are two hours away from the owner of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden, James Dolan, coming into the studio to walk us through how the city is full barring another watch party attempt and all the things that come around with NBA finals. So we'll get to that obviously at four o'clock. We got lots cooking today, predominantly Knicks, as you might imagine, getting ready for game four, the pivotal game four at Madison Square Garden tonight. And I'll start off my first day. Good afternoon, Big Mac. How are you?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:44)
I'm doing great, Craig.

**Craig Carton** (0:45)
Great. The NBA has done us all this service. Let's just say it the way it is. Whether you're a new fan, whether you're a guy like me who's been a fan for 50 years, the NBA needs to be better. The NBA needs to do better. The NBA has long had a problem on its hands where people think, like all sports have dealt with, that officials get an edict from the league to make sure a series stays close, to make sure we don't have a blowout, to make sure this team wins over that team. I'm not suggesting that the NBA did it in this regard, but it's going to be very hard for them to deny it because the NBA failed all of us yesterday, number one by waiting the entire day and then not making the announcement on the flagrant, retroactive foul that Wembay deserved and then kind of hiding it in the middle of the night last night through shams as their, excuse me, mouthpiece, announcing that they have decided after looking over the tape that Wembay's actions against Jalen Brunson did not warrant a retroactive flagrant one call.
Well, that's not a flagrant one foul, then I don't know what is. And the problem with it now is not just that they allowed that to happen to a star player on the Knicks and one of the most marketable stars in the league now in Jalen Brunson, Curry Favor, to a guy that they clearly think is a bigger, more important star for the NBA, they've opened up the possibility of having a problem on their hands tonight. Now, I don't think the Knicks are gonna do that, but I can tell you this right now, if I'm the New York Knicks, I come out tonight's game for warmups and fatigues.
I do the old University of Miami against Notre Dame fatigue dress up, I come out dressed like soldiers, and I come out for a war tonight. Now, this is not the mid-90 Knicks, this is not Anthony Mason, this is not the Oak Man, this is not that mentality. But I can say that this Knick team is tough, they do play great defense, they can be very physical with you, and the NBA failed, not just the Knicks yesterday, the NBA failed basketball fans from coast to coast, because what it tells you is, the NBA can't trust this dirty player in Wembee, not to commit another flagrant foul. And they were so concerned that if he commits another one, he gets kicked out of the game, and is suspended for a game, and then that ends the finals right then and there, that they decided to curry favor to the Spurs, and frankly, it's unacceptable.

**Chris McMonigle** (3:14)
Well, I mean, we both agree, I think everyone agrees that it should be a flagrant foul, they should have called it a flagrant foul, but to your point about the Knicks, because that's what I'm mostly focused on, how the Knicks respond, because I've heard enough of the Draymond Greens of the world and everybody else saying they need to come out and do something. Like, here's my thought, you got to go out and be physical, there's no doubt, I'm not saying don't be physical, I'm not saying run from it, I'm not saying give a little bit extra to Wemby today, but I am not taking this Knick team out of their game to go out and be specifically, I don't know, for lack of a better term, violent against Wemby.
I want revenge on the final score, I don't need to see Wemby on the ground, I don't. I appreciate it, I understand when you attack our best player, like, it can't go unprovoked, it can't go unanswered, but at the same time, I'm trying to win a basketball game.

**Craig Carton** (4:02)
Sure.

**Chris McMonigle** (4:02)
This is, you mentioned what this Knick team is. They're tough, they can be physical, but they are not the 90s Knicks, they are not Draymond Green, they are not some guy who's going to go out there and be an enforcer, they got to play their game. I don't want to get roped up into this, and I think it's unfortunate. I heard a lot of people talk about, well, it's actually better, because there's no way in hell they would ever give Wembay that final.