Taj Gibson calls Knicks a 'trash team,' Derrick Williams fires back
After the Bulls dropped back-to-back games against the lowly New York Knicks, Taj Gibson couldn't contain his frustration. He let loose on his team's struggles against the league's bottom-feeders, and not surprisingly, there were some who took offense.
"Hell yeah, I'm embarrassed," Gibson said after Thursday's loss, via ESPN. "I take pride in wearing this jersey. I love wearing the Bulls jersey. Especially what we've been through, I take pride in playing for Chicago. When I wear that jersey, I try to go out there and play my heart out. And it's frustrating when we come up short, and we look at ourselves, we're losing to ... I don't want to criticize any[body], [but] trash teams. Everybody's in the NBA for a reason, but we're playing against teams that are not playing for anything, and we're just laying down."
The "trash teams" remark is what fans seemed to isolate, and Gibson went at it with a few of them on Twitter who slid into his mentions.
@M_MoralesOne @ctsbulls just stop bro, u been on Twitter to many years, Not to have over 1000 followers who will actually listen to you. Smh
ā Taj Gibson (@TajGibson22) March 25, 2016
The comment didn't go unnoticed by the Knicks, either. Derrick Williams took to Instagram to remind Gibson of how things went down between the two teams this season.
Gibson then tried to point out that the head-to-head record mattered little, because neither team was on track to play in the postseason.
Beat us 3 out of 4?? but at the end of the day we both outside looking in... @derr13k https://t.co/VA6nP73Wc7
ā Taj Gibson (@TajGibson22) March 25, 2016
The problem with that line of thinking is that the Bulls, despite all of their struggles, are just two games behind the Pistons for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Those losses to the Knicks hurt -- and Williams seemed well aware of that.