Sports

Knicks Championship Roller Coaster Ride Gives Loyal Fans Ultimate Reward

By Jerry Beach Lindys Sports

Anyone who has waited 53 years or his/her entire life to see the New York Knicks win the NBA championship will probably tell you the title didn't feel secure until 11:29 PM last Saturday night, when the Knicks closed out a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs to unleash Mike Breen's classic championship call and begin a celebration in the tri-state area that may not end until Labor Day weekend. In 2027.

But as much as every long-awaited championship needs a clinching moment, it also usually needs a previous moment of victorious clarity in which the unattainable suddenly feels inevitable. This moment also needs to be borne out of another moment in which it appeared the misery would not only continue but never end.

For the Knicks, that moment was last Wednesday night's 107-106 Game 4 win - when they, as everyone and everything within six planets of Earth knows by now, overcame a 29-point third-quarter deficit to stun the Spurs on OG Anunoby's miraculous tap-in with 1.2 seconds left.

The great Howie Rose wasn't wrong the next day, when he reminded us all the series wasn't over. But it was. Not only were the Knicks going to win the NBA title, they were going to end their drought with a team worthy of the devotion it earned from the loyal fans who deserved a championship the most…just a few nights after it looked like they were getting the rug pulled out from under them yet again.

Knicks Miracle Comeback Evokes Memories Of 2004 Boston Red Sox

The guy two sinks down from me inside the bathroom between sections 300 and 400 at Madison Square Garden at halftime of Game 4 unleashed everyone's favorite four-letter word beginning with an "f," except this one had about 12 u's following the "f."

Though I understood why he said what he said, I couldn't help but glance to my right.

"Sorry," he said.

"Hey don't worry about it, I get it," I said.

And though I'm not a Knicks fan, I got what he was feeling.

I remembered using the bathroom in a similar situation at Fenway Park - another place where people seated in the overflow media section shared bathrooms with fans - during Game 3 of the 2004 American League Championship Series on Oct. 16, 2004.

The Boston Red Sox were in the process of getting destroyed 19-8 by the New York Yankees and falling behind three games to none in the best-of-seven ALCS - a deficit from which no baseball team had ever recovered.

Not only were the Red Sox one defeat away from an 87th straight season without a championship, they were one defeat away from their most embarrassing loss to the Yankees - all after going all-in and trying to knock off the Evil Empire following a seven-game ALCS loss to the Yankees in 2003.

As I walked out of the bathroom that night, I heard the following exchange, which I raced back to my seat to type into my Word doc:

Fan no. 1: "This was supposed to be the year something like this didn't happen."

Fan no. 2: "I know. At least get to Game Seven. Lose respectfully."

Fan no. 1: "Embarrassing."

Fan no. 2: "It sucks."

Fan no. 1: "Oh well. Football tomorrow."

Of course, we know what happened after that.

Knicks Championship Rewards Their Loyal Fans

Even down 27 points at the half, the Knicks' situation last Wednesday wasn't that dire. When they lost Game 4 - and they were going to lose Game 4 - they'd still be knotted with the Spurs at two games apiece.

But they'd lose home court advantage (albeit in a series in which the road team was 4-0 thus far) and be heading back to San Antonio with the Spurs possessing all the momentum and the Knicks receiving reminders of their hexed history.

So I felt compelled to tell my new friend my 2004 Red Sox tale, which didn't seem to offer him much comfort. He noted the vibes were off and that the MSG crowd was filled with high-rollers who didn't bring the energy, after which we exchanged fist bumps and wished each other well.

I didn't know if I agreed about the latter - how much energy could a crowd muster down 27? - but he was certainly right about the vibes, or lack thereof, since the 115-111 loss in Game 3 two nights earlier.

More NBA Finals:

The Knicks' run to the NBA Finals had been too dominant, too stunning and too spread-out for bandwagoners to emerge, like slugs following a downpour. But after playing just seven home games over the first 51 days of the playoffs, a pair of road wins over the Spurs to begin the Finals gave front-running celebrities plenty of time to crawl out of the woodwork and try to make this about them - while serving as a reminder of how far removed the Knicks usually are from the blue-collar roots of their fans and the city they call home.

Derek Jeter, the Florida Man who can barely be bothered to show up to Yankees Old-Timers Day, showed up for Game 3. So did his frenemy Alex Rodriguez, though at least he has the excuse of being an NBA owner who probably wanted to see what he'll never experience running the Minnesota Timberwolves.

There were other people invited by Knicks management whose presence turned the area around Madison Square Garden into a police state, but I'm treating this like a holiday dinner and not uttering certain words or phrases in hopes everyone can get along.

Anyway, the Knicks lost, and it was a reminder the Knicks of the first two decades of this century were not only borderline unwatchable - they had the lowest winning percentage in the NBA from 2000-01 through 2020-21 - but unlikable and unrelatable. They were a perennial laughingstock run by a real-life cartoon super villain who turned MSG into a metropolitan ivory tower.

But the hardcore fans never gave up - and the loss in Game 3 eliminated the possibility of a sweep, which thus eliminated most of the frontrunners who just wanted to be there to be part of the show.

The average Joe and Jane didn't get the courtside tickets or suite spots that were vacated, but the celebrities that remained were the true fans who represented those average Joes and Janes who'd endured the miserable times. The heroic Michael J. Fox. Every Saturday Night Live cast member you can think of. John McEnroe. Ben Stiller. Spike Lee. Edie Falco and Steven Schirripa from The Sopranos. Taylor Swift. OK, at least one front-runner snuck in.

And the Knicks, with (most of) the front-runners long gone, pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of all-time to not only reward the true fans but also exorcise the franchise's demons in front of those who could most appreciate it.

Just like with the 2004 Red Sox, who rode their comeback over the Yankees to a World Series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, there was no way the Knicks were going to lose the Finals after the Game 4 win - and most of them seemed to know it, even if they couldn't come out and say it.

"You could feel the abundance of joy at one time from everyone at one time - the collective joy that came out of everybody for that one moment," Karl-Anthony Towns said. "I think we all felt something, like that emotion that was special."

Championship Knicks Mirror Their Fans

The comeback in Game 4 also served as a reminder how the 2025-26 Knicks were a collection of castoffs who somehow became a representation of the Average Joes and Janes rooting for them - much like the 2004 Red Sox, a self-described group of idiots that was far more endearing than their far less accomplished predecessors.

"I think everybody to a certain degree at some point in life is overlooked," said Knicks head coach Mike Brown, who was fired from his previous four stops and was nowhere near the top candidate for the job when he was hired to replace Tom Thibodeau following last season. "I mean, I've had people in my own family who I see more potential in them than maybe what the world sees."

Every player who suited up in the postseason was acquired from another organization except 2018 second-rounder Mitchell Robinson, who was surrounded by Immaculate Grid gold/Knicks fan nightmare fuel on a 17-win team as a rookie, and 2025 first-rounder Pacome Dadiet. The 2004 Red Sox playoff roster included just two players drafted and developed by the team - Trot Nixon and Kevin Youkilis.

"Most of our guys probably had to go through that, but I think most people in the world have to go through it," Brown said last Wednesday night. "And it's fun to be around a group of guys that are resilient like that, because I know it gives me hope watching these guys - not just for myself but my family and a couple of my friends too."

The breakout star of the Knicks, on and off the court, this spring was Towns, whose shift to a point-center role after the Knicks fell behind the Hawks two games to one in the first round sparked the historic title run.

Towns also connected with people via uncommon displays of decency and vulnerability. After the Knicks clinched the title, he thanked the fans who spent untold thousands to attend Finals games. Earlier in the Finals, Towns spoke of how he felt his late mother's presence and how it soothed him during chaotic moments before and during games.

The centerpiece of this team is Jalen Brunson, who handles himself like Jeter in public settings. But unlike Jeter - a first-round pick out of high school who started for a World Series winner as a rookie - Brunson actually had doubters and hurdles to overcome.

Listed at 6-foot-1, Brunson was drafted in the second round in 2018 despite winning two national titles and a national player of the year award at Villanova. He started just 127 games in his first four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks before his signing with the Knicks was greeted with almost universal skepticism. He had every right following the Game 5 win last Saturday night - and again at City Hall yesterday - to talk his (stuff).

"And you know, just to have the ability to stay with it, stay with it, stay with it, stay with it - especially when you get knocked down - to me, that defines who you are," Brown said last Wednesday night. "Even if you don't have the quote unquote ultimate success that you think you deserve, if you get knocked down in life and you're able to get back up and keep fighting, that's a freaking win."

Knicks fans - and a team finally worthy of their devotion - stayed with it and they were all finally rewarded with the ultimate success and a freaking win for all-time and all the generations. I sure hope my halftime friend got to the parade yesterday.

Related: New York Visitors Catch Knicks Championship Fever

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published June 20, 2026 at 10:18 AM.

Sports Pass is your ticket to Miami sports
#ReadLocal

Get in-depth, sideline coverage of Miami area sports - only $1 a month

VIEW OFFER