Knicks’ Obi Toppin confronted opponent at halftime over taunt

Obi Toppin sent a clear message this week: don’t disrespect the reigning Slam Dunk Contest champion.

The New York Knicks forward had an incident with Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela during Tuesday’s game. In the first half, Capela blocked a dunk attempt by Toppin and taunted him with the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag.

MASSIVE REJECTION pic.twitter.com/t7bVuWj9Q5

— NBA UK (@NBAUK) March 23, 2022

After the game, which Atlanta won 117-111, Toppin said that he confronted Capela at halftime over the taunt, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. Toppin said that he told Capela, “Don’t do that again.” While Toppin did say that it was a good block, he added to reporters that “I’m gonna catch him [back].

There is an obvious rivalry right now between the Knicks and the Hawks. The latter defeated the former in the first round of the playoffs last year, and the bad blood continued on Tuesday as Hawks star Trae Young also got into it with the Madison Square Garden crowd.

As for Capela himself, he does not seem to be friendly with the Knicks either since he got into a war of words with them during last year’s playoff series. Toppin was just a rookie on last season’s team, but he will not let Capela rook him any longer.