Dave Litman
The National Basketball Association is days away from taking its showcase NBA Finals back to Madison Square Garden for the first time this century. And it’s fair to wonder how New York Knicks fans are going to react. It’s expected to be absolutely bonkers.
A recent Athletic poll of NBA Players revealed that the denizens of Madison Square Garden are ranked as the second-most passionate fans in the league. But where do they rank when it comes to being the most obnoxious fans in the league? Not No. 1. Not by a long shot.
There is one team’s fans that players across the Association overwhelmingly chose as The Most Obnoxious Fans in the NBA. Congratulations, Celtics fans. You are No. 1 — in objectionable and odious behavior.
To the question, “Who has the most obnoxious fans?”, NBA players responded this way:
- TD Garden, Boston Celtics 32.2 %
- Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia 76ers 17.9 %
- Madison Square Garden, NY Knicks 16.4 %
- Delta Center, Utah Jazz 8.2 %
The rest of the teams finished in the 3% range or lower in the poll, not making a significant dent (Grizzlies fans and Thunder fans tied for 5th at 3.8%.
Celtics fans named most ‘obnoxious’ AND most ‘passionate’
The Boston fans also ranked as the most passionate, according to the players. That led the Athletic staff of Sam Amick, Josh Robbins and Joe Vardon to wonder just what the difference is.
“There’s a fine line between fans being deemed passionate vs. obnoxious, and the Celtics’ loyalists are apparently walking it quite well. The former race wasn’t nearly as close as the latter, though, with the TD Garden crowd winning this one going away.”
They also give Philly fans somewhat of a pass, considering the team hasn’t made it to the Finals since 2001. The Sixers haven’t won a title in well over 40 years, since 1983.
By that same token, Jazz fans, who finished fourth, have had plenty of time to get riled up and perfect that “obnoxious” behavior as well. They haven’t been to the Finals since 1998. That was the second of their two straight Finals losses to the Michael Jordan Bulls.
