The Knicks have “accomplished one of owner James Dolan’s mandates” by reaching the NBA Finals. Up next is the opportunity to “end a 53-year championship drought.” Dolan said during a rare radio interview in January that the Knicks winning the Eastern Conference for the first time since 1999 was “something ‘we absolutely got to do.’” The Knicks did that on Monday night with a 130-93 rout of the Cavaliers to complete a four-game sweep in the conference finals. The NBA Finals will not begin until June 3 in either Oklahoma City or San Antonio. The Western Conference finals is tied at two games apiece, with Game 5 to be played in Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The lowest price for an upper-deck seat for Game 3 on June 8 at Madison Square Garden is $3,700 according to a survey of secondary-ticket sites (AP, 5/26).
The question is if the Knicks can “actually win the NBA Finals,” but they are a team to “not overlook.” They can “absolutely win a title.” One area where the Knicks “will carry an edge into the Finals is rest and freshness.” The Spurs and Thunder are tied at two games apiece and this series, at a minimum, “will span two more games and will finish Thursday, May 28, at the earliest” (USA TODAY, 5/26).
The “Let’s Go Knicks” chants were “startling, borderline deafening.” Knicks fan celebrities like actor Timothée Chalamet, film director Spike Lee, comedian Tracy Morgan and rapper Fat Joe “showed out, even if they were kicked to the second row for violating rules cheering against the Cavs in floor seats.” The Cavs’ Rocket Arena is “always loud.” Some of it is the fans, but the music is “cranked up to higher levels and two adults with microphones are allowed to scream into them at all times.” But that combination was “no match for the thousands of New York fans who flooded the arena, chanting ‘Let’s Go Knicks’ and booing when [G James] Harden scored or a foul was called on the Knicks” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/25).
Fat Joe went on ESPN’s “NBA Today” in Cleveland before the game and said that the organization “revoked his ticket once it found out the purchaser was a known Knicks supporter.” Lee was also “seen at the game in the second row, in what appeared to be a deliberate strategy from Cleveland to reserve the premier seats exclusively for Cavaliers fans.” The organization did not immediately respond to an email request for comment for the situation (THE ATHLETIC, 5/25).
