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After the greatest comeback in NBA finals history – 29 points! – “the greatest shot in Knicks history” – Anunoby’s last-second tip-in – some divine intervention – a Pope Leo jersey – and a smudging to erase the vile Trump stench, the New York Knicks are in sight of their first title in over 50 years. “Bedlam at the Garden!” ESPN exclaimed. And across the city, now a jubilant, unified sea of orange and blue watch parties, viral chants, rare hope against hope. One fan: “The city feels alive. Thank God for the Knicks.”<\/p>
The Knicks had won a remarkable 13 straight playoff games, last losing in April, before the seven-game finals against the San Antonio Spurs; of those, they won the first two, only to fall to Trump Disaster Syndrome – everything he touches dies – in the third. In Wednesday’s nail-biter of a Game 4, they began their historic rally in the second half, chipping away at a seemingly hopeless 29-point deficit, gaining ground in the 4th quarter and, with a stunning 1.2 seconds left, taking it 107-106 after OG Anunoby gently tipped in <\/a>a Jalen Brunson shot that ricocheted short. The epic win leaves the Knicks within one game of a championship they haven’t won since 1973, when their city looked like this. <\/a>Now, residents say, it’s “electric.”<\/p> The Knicks’ success has created frenzied joy<\/u><\/a> in a city beset by high prices, traffic snafus and years of sports heartaches – amidst which long-suffering Knicks fans, says one, “have endured, a specific species of human that should be studied.” They also present a unified front in a city split between baseball’s Yankees and Mets and football’s Jets and Giants. New Jersey will host this year’s World Cup finals, but its tribute to “the beautiful game,” long plagued by scandal<\/a> and corruption, <\/a>is already marred by a racist regime <\/a>hassling, interrogating or barring players, officials, journalists and fans from Somalia, <\/a>Senegal, Haiti, Iraq, Iran and other dark-skinned <\/a>locales, with a looming threat<\/a> of ICE goons in attendance.<\/p> In contrast, the come-from-behind Knicks have done what sports at their best should: bring <\/a>people together. New York’s rush hour has become a vast sweep of blue and orange caps, jerseys, hoodies, with a \u201cPlease win before I die\u201d t-shirt<\/a> from Old Jewish Men<\/em>. Strangers on streets and subways do a peculiarly New York call-and- response: \u201cLet\u2019s go Knicks!\u201d to \u201cKnicks in five!\u201d Bar and neighborhood watch parties<\/u><\/a> pop up, some using bedsheet screens. One was just held <\/a>at a Brooklyn funeral home – “If things go wrong, there’s room for grief” – with a poster board for fans to write the names of those they’re missing,<\/a> “just like the the guy down the street and the lady in the bodega…so people know they’re not alone.<\/p> The finals have given a boost<\/a> to legit pan-sports nerd – “New Yorkers can smell a phony” – Mayor Zohran Mamdani. A rabid Arsenals<\/a> fan, he’s heavily promoted the World Cup – choosing<\/a> Morocco to win in The Guardian’s <\/em>Bracketology game – “The heart wants what it wants” – offering $50 tickets to 1,000 New Yorkers, celebrating the vision of Brazilian, German, Ecuadorians who will “watch together, celebrate together, shout at referees together – respectfully.” With the Knicks, he’s likewise praised how Knick fever has “lit this city up” and relished his role as head, albeit ambivalent, cheerleader against a common sports foe. Asked in April about a possible win, he said, “As a New Yorker, I can’t wait. As the mayor? Absolute chaos.” <\/p>Again, he’s all in. As a candidate, he interviewed Knicks fans and made Go-Knicks videos. <\/u><\/a>During the finals, he’s turned up at watch parties, put hand-painted cutouts of former Knicks greats at City Hall, visited a Knicks-hued subway stop, touted the $90 million in revenues from each home game, sported a Knicks jersey under his suit jacket and signed a symbolic executive order repealing bedtimes for kids during the finals. While resale ticket prices to home games have obscenely soared <\/a>to over $8,000, and many courtside seats are reportedly gifted to local celebrities, Mamdani shelled out $1,000 for a standing room only ticket to the Monday game – unfortunately, the one hijacked by the Narcissist-In-Chief. Like New Yorkers didn’t hate him enough already, Trump’s random, clueless attendance saw watch parties cancelled, hours-long lines, bags banned, fans and even players<\/a> (understandable, given most are<\/em> black) TSA-wanded, and a blocks-wide, NYPD-enforced “frozen zone” that turned the area outside Madison Square Gardens from “a showcase of unbridled humanity to a post-apocalyptic wasteland” – all for him to be thunderously booed as he smirked, saluted and promptly fell asleep<\/a> until his granddaughter poked him awake. It probably didn’t help when those who’d waited in line for hours also got to see fucking Jared Kushner, “patron saint of failing upward,” respectfully, infuriatingly escorted in by police.<\/p> Before Wednesday’s game, a fan thoughtfully burned sage outside the Garden “to remove the sulfuric stench and bad vibes” from Pres. Poopy-Pants’ visit. The Knicks also reportedly got help from on high: From the three “Nova Knicks\u201d – Brunson, Hart, Bridges – who graduated from Catholic Villanova, and Pope Leo XIV, who earned a math degree there in 1977. To ensure his blessing,<\/a> die-hard Knicks fan Spike Lee had earlier worn a custom Knicks jersey – “Pope Leo #14” – he’d had “P\ud83c\udfc0PE LE\ud83c\udfc0” sign<\/a> at the Vatican last year. Thus, the surreal 29-point comeback<\/a>, and “the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball” – per OG, “right hand from God.” The Nation<\/em>‘s Dave Zirin:<\/a> “With the Trump Stench Gone, the Knicks Make History.”<\/p>