NBA legend Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier compared the Chicago Bulls defense to Iran in a bizarre joke that prompted Knicks announcer Mike Breen to respond: ‘Oh, jeez.’
The 81-year-old spent a decade as a point guard for New York, helping the Knicks secure the only two NBA championships in franchise history.
Frazier now works as a television analyst on MSG Network and on Friday night, he was behind the mic for the visit of the Chicago Bulls.
Chicago currently has one of the worst defensive records in the league and, as the game kicked off at Madison Square Garden, Frazier said: ‘Mike, I was talking to my friends, man, and I was talking about “eradicated,” “obliterated,” “devastated.”
The 81-year-old then added: ‘They thought I was talking about Iran. But I was talking about the Bulls.’ That sparked an awkward response from Breen.
‘Oh, jeez,’ he said before both men laughed. ‘That’s how you start a telecast?’
NBA legend Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier compared the Chicago Bulls defense to Iran in a bizarre joke
His comment came at the start of the Knicks’ 136-96 win over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night
The war in Iran, which started on February 28, has killed thousands and shaken global markets
The Knicks went on to win 136-96 on Friday night and Frazier’s comments came as conflict rages in the Middle East after the United States and Israel began striking Iran, sparking retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
The war started on February 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
The White House recently reiterated that its objectives are to ‘obliterate Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capability, annihilate its navy, sever its support for terrorist proxies, and ensure the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism never acquires a nuclear weapon.’
On Saturday, President Donald Trump warned Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline, with Tehran calling his threat ‘unbalanced and foolish.’
The search for a missing US military pilot, meanwhile, continued Saturday in a remote part of the Islamic Republic.
Trump has called Tehran ‘beaten and completely decimated’ in the war, now in its sixth week, but the downing of two US warplanes on Friday and Iran’s call to find the ‘enemy pilot’ have again raised the stakes.
‘The doors of hell will be opened to you’ if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the US military in the region.
