On a night when so much went so right, it was the Knicks official Twitter account that wound up committing the big-time fail. All things considered, that’s not such a bad thing.
The Knicks topped the LeBron James-less Lakers on Tuesday, withstanding a triple-double performance from L.A. star guard Russell Westbrook, for a much-needed win amid a stretch of brutally difficult games for New York. James was suspended for a dust-up with Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart on Sunday.
The team was led by French guard Evan Fournier, the Knicks’ major pickup this offseason and a player who has struggled mightily in recent weeks. Fournier, though, came through with his best performance since the season opener, logging 26 points on just 14 shots, going 6-for-9 from the 3-point line.
That, though, opened the path to a truly terrible pun from the team account, which tweeted out a picture of Fournier among some French loaves of bread with the caption, “Evan was in his baguette tonight.”
Cue the groans.
The French Are Left Utterly Confused
Making the play on words all the more torturous was the fact that Fournier has a legion of French fans who follow his exploits and clearly had no clue what the joke was. A player who is on a hot streak being, “in his bag,” does not really have an easy translation into French.
One user tweeted, “Can you explain the funny thing to us, French people ? don’t get it at all there ^^”
To which another replied, correctly, “It is not especially funny, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Another added, in French (thanks, Google Translate), that, “@EvanFourmizz was ultra hot it’s true but you will have to stop your jokes.
Again, correct there.
A truly confused Frenchman missed the point entirely, perhaps inferring that the Knicks were making reference to some other type of baguette.
Also translated from the French, he wrote, “Never understood why the baguette made Americans laugh so much.”
Knicks Need an Evan Fournier Revival
Terrible jokes aside, there has to be some hope from the Knicks that they are finally seeing a re-awakening of Fournier, who was given a four-year, $78 million contract (the final year is a team option) this offseason as the team’s top free-agent signing. He has not played up to the contract, though, and has struggled to find a fit in what has been a largely dysfunctional starting five for New York.
In Fournier’s previous 10 games, he had averaged 8.8 points and made just 38.4% of his shots. He is supposed to be a 3-point threat, but had made just 26.5% of his shots from long distance in those games.
Fournier seemed to be on the way to a breakout two games ago, against Houston, when he scored 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting. But he followed that up with a three-point, 1-for-7 effort in Sunday’s loss to Chicago, dampening hopes of a revival.
“He was terrific — I thought Evan was not hesitating,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We did a good job searching him out early and he got in a good rhythm. I thought our starters played really well to get the lead for us. We had a good rhythm to our offense.’’
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