Knicks Fans Turned Radio City Music Hall Into The Best Party In Town

NEW YORK — On Monday night, the Knicks punched their ticket to the NBA Finals. Local fans of the Finals-bound team had gathered to watch the game together at Radio City Music Hall, after the team decided to change the venue for the official watch party because the authorities thought things got too rowdy outside of Madison Square in the aftermath of Game 3's blowout win in Cleveland. Regardless of where, though, New York was ready for the moment. And because the result of Game 4 was never in doubt from the second quarter on, Monday's watch party was mostly one long celebration. The beauty of New York City is its melting pot, and the vibes at Radio City were a perfect example of it. Knicks fans of every race, gender, ethnicity, and religion got together to collectively lose their minds about their team's return to the Finals for the first time since 1999, looking for their first championship since 1973. There were old men accompanied by their adult children and young grandkids. Fans in hijabs. Fans in yarmulkes. Bros in O.G. Anunoby and Jalen Brunson jerseys looking like feral dogs ready to roam the streets. Brunson and Anunoby jerseys were the most popular, in fact. I saw one Josh Hart jersey. Some Jeremy Lin jerseys. A Latrell Sprewell and a Patrick Ewing jersey that were both absolute grails. Also a Jordan Clarkson jersey. A city of true diversity! The array of jerseys spoke to the Knicks fans' long journey back to the top. The rough '80s that lead to winning the Ewing lottery. The rough-and-tumble '90s, where the Knicks were good but never quite good enough. The miracle '99 run with Sprewell and Allan Houston. The Stephon Marbury Knicks, which probably made Larry Brown miss Allen Iverson. The Carmelo Knicks, which featured several players who possessed a bottomless bag but never managed to put a trophy in it. Linsanity, which burned impossibly bright for impossibly short. All the way to today, the best and most fun Knicks team in ages. In between those various eras was a lot of executive mismanagement, beefs, suffering, the worst contracts you’ve ever seen, an arena that has showcased the powers of the surveillance state, and an owner who takes joy in being awful because no one likes his blues band or whatever.