stephen jackson

Just call him the Knicks’ sixth man.

Mayor Bloomberg put a full-court press on Spurs forward Stephen Jackson before the player left a Knicks game Thursday with a sprained ankle.

The Knicks ended up winning easily, 100-83.

Fans reported Jackson tripped on a waitress, who was crouched on the sidelines with her back to the Madison Square Garden court while serving a drink to the mayor.

“He didn’t fall on her,” Bloomberg revealed yesterday during a press conference in The Bronx dealing with schools. “He came close and I just pushed him a little bit.”

The mayor acknowledged it would be “great for New York” if the Knicks and the Nets made it into the playoffs, but he insisted that fouling Jackson was an instinctive, defensive move and not part of a secret strategy.

– Reported by David Seifman of the New York Post