Say what you will about New York Knicks fans, but they have endured many difficult years waiting for this moment. After their thorough 119-81 demolition of the Boston Celtics on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years, ending the third-longest active drought in the NBA.
The game was a celebration pretty much from the second quarter on, as the already raucous crowd reached fevered levels while the Knicks’ lead grew … and grew … and grew. The zenith arrived late in the third quarter, when a hustle play by Josh Hart turned into an OG Anunoby 3-pointer that extended the Knicks’ lead to 41 points. Turn your volume up and listen to this crowd.
If that doesn’t give you chills, you don’t like playoff basketball … or you’re a Celtics fan.
Speaking of which, even former Knick Kristaps Porziņģis, who was booed at MSG nearly every time he touched the ball throughout the series, had to give it up to the New York faithful after his team was eliminated.
“The support from the Knicks fans was through the roof tonight and all throughout the playoffs,” Porziņģis said. “Unbelievable fans, unbelievable city and there’s a side of me that’s very, very happy for them.”
And of course, when we’re talking about Knicks fans, the party is never confined to the walls of the arena. The frenzy spilled out onto the Manhattan streets after the win, with mobs of fans chanting “Go New York, go New York, go!” and climbing every weight-bearing apparatus in sight.
The scene was simply incredible, as you would expect from one of the most loyal and passionate fan bases in all of sports.
You might be shocked to hear this, but there were even a handful of New York fans who voiced some NSFW thoughts on not only the Celtics, but also the entire city of Boston (Ben Affleck and Mark Wahlberg catching strays). A star-studded group of Knick-supporting celebrities were loving the blowout inside MSG, and actor Timothée Chalamet even got in on the action outside the arena after the victory.
“I felt like they gave us energy, a lot of energy tonight,” Knicks guard Miles McBride said of the Game 6 crowd. “Just understanding what we had a chance to do and we just wanted to make sure we went out there and made all of New York proud.”
The Knicks will try to make all of New York proud once again in their upcoming conference finals matchup with the Indiana Pacers, which begins with Game 1 at MSG on Monday at 8 p.m. ET. The Knicks enter the game as -3.5 favorites according to DraftKings, while they’re -140 to win the series.
No matter how things turn out, you can expect some wild reactions — both good and bad — from the amped-up Knicks fanbase.