Steve Kerr comes to Jalen Brunson's defense a day after Knicks guard jeered by Pistons fans

DETROIT (AP) — New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was booed almost every time he touched the ball in Game 3 against the Detroit Pistons.

Brunson heard much worse than that Thursday night during a win that gave the Knicks a 2-1 lead in the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Fans at Little Caesars Arena directed a three-word chant at Brunson — beginning with a four-letter profanity and ending with his name — on numerous occasions. Golden State's Draymond Green heard the same phrase in Houston this week, and on Friday, Warriors coach Steve Kerr came to the defense of both players and scolded the fans.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau wasn't concerned about Brunson getting his feelings hurt.

“To Jalen, those are cheers,” Thibodeau said. “He lives for that stuff.”

Brunson said he hadn't been subjected to verbal abuse like that previously in seven NBA seasons.

“Do I think it's cheers? No,” he said. “But it’s just another way to get me focused and poised.”

The Pistons put the NBA's fan code of conduct, which prohibits obscene language, on videoboards throughout the night, but that did nothing to stop the chant.

Rockets fans yelled the same ugly words at Green during Houston's Game 2 win on Wednesday night — and Kerr has heard enough. Guidance on fan behavior is also shown on the big screen before games in Houston.

Kerr lamented that fans often use foul language at games, adding that players are held to certain standards of behavior and fans should be more respectful.

“It feels like we’re stepping way over the line," he said. "I know our fans aren’t going to do that. I would just implore fans everywhere to not cross the line. You can yell at the players and you can say a lot of things, but I just find it disturbing, 20,000 fans yelling (a profanity) to a player. There are kids all over the arena. Like, what are we teaching our kids?

“And I understand it’s an emotional time when you come to a game and you want your team to win, but the league asks the players to watch their decorum, I think we should ask our fans to do the same.”

Rockets star Dillon Brooks said he appreciated the fans for being engaged and doing their part to create a home-court advantage.

“I like it. It was good. Let the fans get going,” Brooks said of the taunting directed at Green. “Anything to get our fans going is great to hear the noise, to hear the energy being built within the arena.”

Golden State guard Brandin Podziemski said most people know what the line is, but acknowledged it gets stepped over by fans.

“I heard it was worse in Boston in the ’22 Finals than it was last game,” Podziemski said. “But for me I try not to worry about any fan, if they’re talking to me or not, I just try to go out there and play.”

This story has been corrected. A previous version included a quote that was mistakenly attributed to Steve Kerr.

AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley in San Francisco and Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this report.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green yells at Houston Rockets fans from the bench after leaving the game during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets in Houston, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr instructs on the sideline during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets in Houston, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Detroit Pistons guard Dennis Schroder (17) tried to steal the ball from New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the second half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Air traffic controllers in Denver lost communications with planes for 90 seconds earlier this week and had to scramble to use backup frequencies in the latest Federal Aviation Administration equipment failure.

The outage at a control facility that directs planes around Denver International Airport on Monday afternoon affected communications, not radar, the FAA's head of air traffic control, Frank McIntosh, said during a House hearing Thursday. This communications failure follows two high-profile outages of radar and communications in the past 2 1/2 weeks at a facility in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of the Newark, New Jersey, airport.

The FAA said in a statement that the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center lost communications for approximately 90 seconds. McIntosh said both the primary and main backup frequencies went down, so the controllers had to turn to an emergency frequency to communicate.

“Controllers used another frequency to relay instructions to pilots. Aircraft remained safely separated and there were no impacts to operations,” the FAA said.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California told McIntosh during the hearing that these outages are happening more regularly and it’s concerning every time.

“We know that there are staffing and equipment problems at air traffic control,” Garcia said. “We know that the problems have gone back decades in some cases, but it’s still an absolutely shocking system failure and we need immediate solutions.”

Last week, the Trump administration announced a multibillion-dollar plan to overhaul an air traffic control system that relies on antiquated equipment. Air travel is safe even if the air traffic control system is old, but the problems in Newark were unacceptable and could have been prevented if the system had been upgraded sooner, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a Thursday op-ed in Newsweek.

The Newark airport has generally led the nation in flight cancellations and delays ever since both radar and communications went out on April 28 and again on May 9. A third similar problem happened Sunday, but that time the backup system worked and kept radar online.

“The safety of the traveling public cannot continue being put at risk,” Democrat and ranking member Rep. Rick Larsen said after the hearing. “Problems with our system have crossed administrations, but safety improvements cannot span generations. We need action now.”

The FAA and airlines that fly out of Newark met again Thursday to discuss cutting flights because there aren’t enough controllers to handle them all. More than 140 flights have been canceled at Newark Thursday.

Officials developed the plan to upgrade the air traffic control system after a deadly midair collision in January between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people in the skies over Washington, D.C. Several other crashes this year also put pressure on officials to act.

A United Airlines jetliner prepares to push off from a gate at Denver International Airport Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)