Between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics game (NBA Playoffs Game 4), ESPN's Doris Burke was the topic of discussion, and it wasn't the best attention she was getting. In what would have been a moment of celebration over a hard-fought Knicks lead, a piece of commentary caught ears and raised eyebrows, not because of stats or strategy but because of a single word with which some viewers took issue.
The sequence came with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter. Knicks guard Mikal Bridges hit a jumper that made it 111-104, the most significant lead by either team in the series and a turning point in the Knicks' chase to go up 3-1. As Madison Square Garden pulsed with electricity, Burke provided what in ordinary playoffs talk would have been a routine observation: "The postseason clutch time has not been good for the Boston Celtics. You know what a nightmare it hasn't been for? The New York Knickerbockers."
As Burke was speaking, a few viewers said that she placed odd stress in the middle of the word "Knickerbockers," and what landed in their ears was something a little too close for comfort to a racial slur. Social media almost immediately lit up like Times Square after dark.
Burke's Instagram comments were immediately filled with questions and eyebrow-raising remarks. "The New York what?" one user wrote. Another said, "Did Doris say that? Or am I tripping?"
The clip ripped around in short order, and it was your classic viral moment when viewers hit rewind and watched it repeatedly. I'm not sure if they just heard what they thought they heard. For context, there's been no official response yet from Burke or ESPN, and it looks like she was referring to the squad by their full and proper title: Knickerbockers. But, in today's hypersensitive media environment, any minor stumble or perception of one can blow up quickly.
Meanwhile, the games itself was not without drama. Moments after the commentary in question, Celtics star Jayson Tatum, lighting up the Wizards with 42 points, twisted his ankle with 2:54 seconds to go and went down screaming. The tone was changed, not just the score. The Celtics wilted, the Knicks surged, and Burke's call whether a play for attention or not turned into a subplot.
There's no word on whether this moment will lead to a public statement or apology, but it's a reminder that every syllable counts when the mic is hot. The spotlight has turned on Doris Burke, the game's most respected voice and a pioneer as the first woman to be an analyst on an NBA broadcast, not in the way anyone would have predicted.
It might be a mountain or a molehill, but it remains to be seen. In the middle of a playoff nail-biter, the conversation turned from buckets to broadcast and had nothing to do with basketball.
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