If you thought Kelly Oubre beefing with Ben Stiller would be the most memorable Sixers player vs. Knicks celebrity comedian fan interaction of the NBA playoffs, you were gravely mistaken.
That honor now belongs to forever Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who served as the stand-in for all Knicks fans when he made an unexpected cameo on the TNT broadcast upon the culmination of Tyrese Maxey nearly pulling a full Reggie Miller in the Garden.
After Maxey exploded for a flurry of 7 points in 17 seconds to force overtime in the eventual series-extending win, the camera cut to him celebrating past Stewart, who appeared as though he’d just had his heart ripped out of his body on live television:
Twitter had a field day with the unexpected appearance:
I have watched Jon Stewart cover nearly every major world atrocity of the last 25 years… and I have never seen him look this distraught before. #knicks pic.twitter.com/jaluYTmJbX
— Scott Stuff (@_ScottStuff) May 1, 2024
Jon Stewart doing that mouth-open take he usually does after a Trump clip as Tyrese Maxey walks by.
— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) May 1, 2024
The reason for Stewart’s distress? Well, after Maxey completed an and-1 on a 3-pointer with 25.1 seconds left to put the Sixers behind by just two points, Josh Hart missed one of two free throws on the other end to leave Philly trailing just three with 15.1 seconds left.
Then Maxey hit this shot:
Watching your team blow a 96-90 lead with less than 30 seconds left and go to a completely unexpected overtime period — in which they’d eventually lose, 112-106 — would probably cause just about any fan to make the exact face Stewart did, once again proving that celebrities; they’re just like us.
Well except for the whole sitting courtside, being rich and being on TV thing. But other than that, very relatable.
Now with the series headed back to Philadelphia for an at-best-improbable Game 6 and Joel Embiid continuing to look hobbled with his medical textbook’s worth of injuries, Stewart and the rest of the Knicks’ faithful will just have to hope the ascendant Maxey doesn’t have another 46 points in him on Thursday, or we might be headed towards one of the more shocking first-round Game 7s ever.
