New York: When the final seconds ticked down and the Knicks claimed a one-point victory over the San Antonio Spurs in game 2 of the NBA finals, New York City roared in unison.
At the burger joint on East 35th where we watched the fourth, nail-biting quarter, to the Playwright Irish pub a few doors down, and so on and so on, the cheers erupted from bars and restaurants and balconies, and barrelled through the cavernous streets of Midtown Manhattan.
Cars honked their horns, bikes revved their engines, people screamed and hugged strangers on the sidewalk. Outside Madison Square Garden, which hosted a watch party on its jumbo screens, they partied in the streets, climbing light poles and singing the riff from Seven Nation Army. The tourist tuk tuks blasted Empire State of Mind – and for once, even the locals sang along.
Knicks mania has hit New York, infecting the city with a pep beyond even its usual frenzied energy. The men’s basketball team has made the finals for the first time since 1999, in a competition they haven’t won since 1973, and they now lead the best-of-seven series 2-0.
After two games in Texas, the next two will be held at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden, with a slew of celebrities in the packed house, including President Donald Trump, a long-time fan. The Knicks can sweep the finals 4-0 and claim the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy if they win both those home games.
Versions of the “Knicks in four” chant can be heard across the city. One TikTok video has gone especially viral, featuring a Knicks fan yelling: “My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish, my Christian Dior – Knicks in four!”
Outside Madison Square Garden on Friday night, Sonya Badger and Colin Ray were decked out in their Knicks jerseys, gold chains and team tattoos. Badger was here at MSG 27 years ago when the Knicks last played finals and lost the series to, yes, the San Antonio Spurs.
“When the buzzer went off I did not look at the floor because I did not want to see them celebrate on our court,” she recalled.
The mood on the street this time has been electric, Badger confirms. “Oh my god, it’s crazy. People walk up to each other and just high-five. We don’t even say anything, just high-five. Just passing by, ‘Let’s go Knicks’ – no matter what borough you’re in. It’s amazing.”
This masthead also encountered Matt Ginsburg and Owen Heller, two 21-year-old Knicks fans from New Jersey, and Nick Conforti, a recent bandwagon Knicks fan who dressed as a cow, including udders and a bucket that says “#MOOtion”.
An American football kicker and punter, Conforti has an amateur sports podcast and said his dream was to go to Brisbane to watch the Brisbane Lions play an AFL game.
It’s not all celebration, though. The price of admission to Knicks home games has stunned and angered many fans, and sparked another conversation about the place of regular New Yorkers in a city that has long been a playground for bankers, lawyers, celebrities and the ultrarich.
Stars such as Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock are regulars in the courtside seats known as Celebrity Row, where seats are invite-only and can’t be bought. Other tickets are snapped up by resellers and offered for an exorbitant price.
On Friday morning, the cheapest tickets for Monday night’s game were in section 420, way up the back of the arena, and selling at $US8170 each ($11,600). One courtside seat was listed as “amazing” value at $US43,563. Another pair were selling for just over $US88,000 each.
Even tickets for the watch parties, when the games are held interstate, have sold out and are being resold at massively inflated prices. “I saw one for $609, and it’s a $10 ticket,” Badger said.
“I feel a little repulsed because these people are buying up these tickets to resell them at a higher price to put money in their pockets, while the real fans can’t get tickets.”
New York City’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has interviewed residents on the street about the price of Knicks tickets, and used it as a segue to conversations about the cost of housing and living.
While he has admitted that reducing NBA ticket prices might be beyond his abilities, the city has secured 1000 tickets to the soccer World Cup, which are being offered to New Yorkers in a lottery for $US50 a seat, including free bus transport to MetLife Stadium.
“Sports should not become a luxury commodity,” Mamdani has said. He attended a game during the eastern conference finals, for which he said he paid face value of $US700 to sit in the nosebleeds.
Outside Madison Square Garden for Friday night’s game, Badger and Ray were not discouraged. “Corporate is going to make their money, it is what it is,” said Ray. “But we still here.”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.