Stephen Jackson Injury: Spurs Forward Trips Over Mayor Bloomberg’s Waitress At MSG [Video]

New York City – San Antonio Spurs forward Stephen Jackson left tonight’s game against the New York Knicks with a freak injury after tripping over Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s courtside waitress. The sprained ankle occurred in the first quarter, and he is out of action for the rest of the game.

ESPN has more on the Stephen Jackson injury at Madison Square Garden in New York City:

“Jackson was hurt in the first quarter Thursday night when he shot a 3-pointer from the corner. The shot missed and he stepped backward out of bounds and onto the waitress, who was kneeling in front of courtside seats.”

NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk notes it wasn’t clear at first how Jackson suffered the ankle injury:

“Jackson hobbled off the court after the Spurs were forced to call a timeout, and then the replays revealed the culprit.”

CBS Sports reports that social media quickly seized upon the circumstances of Jackson rolling his ankle in proximity of Bloomberg’s front row seats and the mayor’s recent ban on large sugary drinks:

“The waitress was serving Mayor Bloomberg a drink, which led to roughly 3,000 tweets about it not being a large soda.”

The Knicks are way out in front in the fourth quarter, so the NBA game is pretty much a done deal. [Update: Final score Knicks 100, Spurs 83, snapping San Antonio’s seven-game winning streak.]

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich, who is very protective of his players, will likely not be pleased with this fluke, off-the-court injury to Jackson.

Do you believe that Jackson’s absence was a major factor in the 26-9 Spurs loss tonight? Do you think Bloomberg and the city council should pass an ordinance banning waitresses from front row seats for health reasons?

Watch Stephen Jackson crash into Mayor Bloomberg’s courtside waitress: