Knicks Forward Calls Out Interviewer After EuroBasket Heartbreaker

“Hey we’re talking her, calm down," Yabusele said when speaking to French media after the loss (h/t @Eurohoopsnet on X). "You’re the journalist, you're not a player.”

The obvious violation of press decorum notwithstanding, it's easy to see why Sunday's game caused such a reaction: Georgia is competing in just its sixth EuroBasket competition and hasn't placed higher than 11th in any of that prior slate.

Boasting the talents of former Big East standouts Kamar Baldwin and Sandro Mamukelashvili (a name well-known to Knicks fans after his shocking breakout off the bench as a San Antonio Spur in March) now advances to the quarterfinal round to face Finland, which earned a massive Round of 16 upset of its own by defeating defending tournament champion Spain. EuroBasket 2025 will thus be the first such tournament to feature neither France nor Spain in its semifinal round since 1997.

With it's loss, France officially places ninth in final EuroBasket ranking after serving as the runner-up to Spain last time around in 2022. That's highest among the Round of 16 departures but that will likely hardly stand as consolation for the French, who previously earned a silver medal at last summer's Olympic Games in Paris.

With France's elimination likely also taking out their rooting interest in the event, Knicks fans can at least take solace in Yabusele's showing, which saw him serve as the captain of Les Bleus in succession of former New Yorker Evan Fournier. Yabusele reached double figures in scoring in all but one of the six games, his most prominent outing being a 36-tally output in the win over then-undefeated Poland, which helped the French earn the Group D victory.