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'The streets are gonna riot': NY Knicks head toward history and NYC is amped
By
Samir Ferdowsi
Published May 17, 2025
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Leonardo Munoz via AFP and Getty Images
By
Samir Ferdowsi
Published May 17, 2025
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The New York Knicks have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and the city is hyped.
For the first time in a quarter-century, the team has advanced to the NBA's final four, after defeating their rivals the Boston Celtics Friday night. And for the first time since the Nixon administration, they have a shot at being the NBA champs.
The last time the team was in this position, fans who wanted to check the score online had to use dial-up internet. So after Friday’s win, fans took to the streets, swung on stoplights, jumped on bar tables and shut down Midtown — again.
Still-delirious fans walking around Brooklyn on Saturday said if the team goes all the way, Friday’s celebration will look like a quiet dinner party with friends.
“There will be every building on fire,” lifelong New Yorker Zach Weinstein said in McCarren Park Saturday. "The streets are gonna completely riot and it's gonna be the most fun that anybody has ever had here.”
Weinstein said his dad, a ticket holder for more than 40 years, had told him stories of the city erupting as the Knicks took home their last championship in 1973. Allegiance to any sports team is often tied up in family, and in Weinstein’s, Knicks fandom is part of the DNA.
“My sister and I were sitting together last night. We're in the same situation. And both of us had tears in our eyes just waiting for this moment to finally come," he said. "If we do actually make it to the finals, I think I literally will cry for the rest of my life.”
The Knicks won Friday night by a sizable 119-81 margin against the Celtics, the defending NBA champs. Now, New York faces the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night in the conference finals. The winner of that seven-game series heads to the championship.
Like Weinstein, fans say they’re confident the team can go all the way.
“ I think they'll beat Indiana in probably five or six,” said Brendan Dugan, who lives in Williamsburg. “I think they match up well with any of those teams on the West Coast.”
Dugan said he’s also developed a sound method to ensure a Knicks win.
“ My one superstition, recently, has been going to the bar watching the game,” he said. “We've been down 20 at half. We go back home and watch the game and we win. So yeah, that's my little trick … Bing bong.”
Whether home or away the Knicks were a dominant force during the series against Boston, even before the Celtics lost superstar Jayson Tatum to an injury. They took the first two games in Beantown before returning home to lose at MSG. The Knicks came back in game four, lost game five and sealed it in game six on Friday night.
The streets around MSG were flooded with fans clad in orange and blue jerseys after the hometown win earlier this week and the party ended up shutting down Seventh Avenue. Friday’s game seemed to take over Midtown again.
Game one against the Indiana Pacers tips off at the World’s Most Famous Arena here in the capital of Knicks Nation on Wednesday, May 21 at 8 p.m.
Greenpointer Marc Palladino said the Knicks' bid will give NYC some unity: “Nothing gets the city hyped like the Knicks do."
Tagged
knicks
new york city
sports
Samir Ferdowsi
Samir is a day-of reporter on the general assignment and breaking news desk. Previously Samir was a reporter, host and producer at VICE News.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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