Knicks end their curse, New York erupts in joy

When Mangue Banzima arrived in New York at 17 from an African country — he prefers not to say which — the only thing that made him feel at home was the Knicks. He remembers wearing sneakers as a child like those of his idol Patrick Ewing. And when he arrived in the United States, he found a city where his basketball team was everywhere. Banzima’s arrival in New York coincided with something no Knicks fan will ever forget: they had just reached the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. That was in 1999. It has not happened since in 27 years — until now, when the New Yorkers have finally qualified to compete for the famed ring, for which they will face the Spurs again. After so many disappointments, the success of a team used to failure has infected the whole city with euphoria.

Banzima smiles as he watches a game between the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder from a Brooklyn bar that has become famous because celebrities such as director Spike Lee and Mayor Zohran Mamdani go there to watch the Knicks. “It’s hard to be a Knicks fan. You get a lot of disappointments. But look, now we can’t stop laughing,” Banzima said last Thursday, beer in hand.

Many of the fans who on May 25 were celebrating the Knicks’ victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers outside Madison Square Garden — the game that propelled them to the finals — do not remember anything comparable because, simply, they hadn’t been born in 1999. The last finals took place before 9/11. Before social media. A world that now seems very distant.

There are few things that unite New Yorkers as much as the Knicks. The Nets are seen as a distinctly Brooklyn product. In baseball, some New Yorkers are Yankees fans and others support the Mets. Neither the NFL nor hockey nor soccer has the unifying power of basketball. Nor, certainly, does politics in a city where some believe Socialist Mamdani will finally curb the inequalities that have surged in recent years while others fear his measures will destroy the city’s wealth. The mayor himself celebrated the Knicks’ success with Livin’ la vida loca, by Ricky Martin: to convey how distant that last moment of triumph now seems, he said that was the hit song the last time his team was in a finals.

That unifying quality the Knicks have for all New Yorkers is explained clearly by David Hollander, a professor at New York University’s Institute for Global Sport and author of the book How Basketball Can Save the World: “This is New York’s sport. Here, everyone has access to a court. It’s one of the few places where no one asks for ID or anything. People who don’t know each other, who may not even know each other’s names, go there and play under common rules.” The professor explains, with contagious enthusiasm, why the Knicks’ meaning in New York is incomparable, for example, to the Yankees or the Giants. “In New York it’s hard to find soccer, baseball, or football fields. But there are basketball courts everywhere. It’s the way we live here, packed up against each other,” he said by videoconference.

Prohibitive ticket prices

Basketball is lived in New York in family living rooms, in sports bars, in the streets, but only a few lucky people can see it live at Madison Square Garden. Even before the finals start with Game 1 on Thursday, controversy returned over the sky-high ticket prices, which top thousands of dollars. These are the same complaints being heard about tickets for the World Cup, which led Mayor Mamdani to raffle 1,000 tickets at $50 among residents.

Knicks fans’ joy is explained not only by what has been achieved but also by what might still come. The team has only two NBA rings. The last was won in 1973. If they added another title now, it would be madness. To stoke excitement, Mamdani, in that mix of human gestures and a touch of populism he handles so well, on Monday signed an executive order — in a humorous tone, of course — authorizing New York children to skip their bedtime to watch their team’s games.

Julian Graham knows this all too well. He was only eight years old during the Knicks’ last championship game, but he remembers magical moments as if they were yesterday — like when, during the playoffs and with the team trailing, power forward Larry Johnson hit a three-pointer that turned into four points after he was fouled. “It was a huge moment that I celebrated with my whole family. Back then I thought I would experience many moments like that. But it didn’t happen. Practically my whole life I’ve heard jokes about how bad the Knicks are. They’ve gone through scandals, leadership problems, big stars like LeBron James ended up signing with other teams... It’s been very difficult. But that makes what’s happening now even more rewarding. I’ve waited 27 years for this,” he said.

At the Brooklyn bar, Joe Ginn watches the game with his girlfriend. He talks for a while about his passion for the Knicks. And when the conversation seems to be over, he calls his companion back. “Look, two friends just told me that if we win the ring they’re going to get a tattoo. That’s the level of passion we’re at.” Because, as the NYU professor says, the Knicks may not have superstars like Victor Wembanyama, but they are defying all expectations. They are an example of how to succeed in a city where everyone has to fight to get ahead every day. It’s a team, Hollander says, that resembles New York and its people.

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