Sports

Van Gundy thought he was ripped by David Stern, not Howard

Don’t book your seat for that Jeff Van Gundy-Howard Stern throwdown just yet.

The former Knicks coach, critical of Howard Stern for leaving a Knicks game early, said he found the lambasting he received from the shock jock in return to be “funny.”

“If you think I was thinking about saving the world from celebrities leaving their seats too early and I was going to make a demand that they stick through a blowout, I was just messing around,” he said while on the air with ESPN Radio’s Dan Le Batard. “But his response, c’mon, I didn’t think it was sensitive, I thought it was funny.”

In fact, Van Gundy initially thought it was former NBA commissioner David Stern who was ripping him before he realized it was the popular radio show host. Van Gundy said he first heard about it while in the movie theater watching Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new film “Sabotage.”

Stern laced into Van Gundy for, among other things, not understanding the dedication it takes to be No. 1.

“Has he ever won a championship? So, he wouldn’t really understand the effort it takes,” Stern said. “I’ve been No. 1 many times in my career, Jeff, and let me tell you something, it takes intense dedication. I can’t sit at a Knicks game all night, I’ve got way much to do. … Sometimes you have to leave a Knicks game early.”