“Did you hear that boo?”
Victor Cruz, a New York Knicks fan from Astoria, Queens, was standing outside Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, at the epicenter of the cultural supernova that has consumed a city, produced a sprawling street party across five boroughs, and ricocheted from the corridors of Gracie Mansion to the White House. There were the wealthy Knicks fans who sprung for eyewatering tickets at the Garden and even in San Antonio, and then there were the diehards standing just outside their team’s home court to get as close to the action as possible—even when the team was over a thousand miles away. Cruz had arrived at Plaza33, the area in midtown Manhattan that has served as the official home of the Knicks’ watch parties, with the hope that the “Knicks in five” chants heard throughout the city would come to fruition. But first, he reflected on what had happened when Donald Trump arrived for Game 3 a few nights prior and the jumbotron showed his face as the national anthem played.
“The boo, that was a monumental moment for this city,” Cruz said. “I’m so proud of the city. New York history.”
Like so many Knicks fans who have spent the past two months in a state of shock and glee , Cruz had come to understand the quest to “fucking secure this shit after 53 years” as something broader than the four corners of the court. When his team did in fact secure its first title since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs by four games to one, Plaza33 erupted into a cacophony unlike any in recent memory—and so did the West Village, the Upper East Side, Fort Greene, and just about anywhere a basketball game could be projected on the side of a building.
“It’s like a fairy tale, man,” 16-year-old Sonny Rice said. “This is what dreams are made of.”
KNICKS IN FIVE! Fans outside Madison Square Garden, in an Empire State of mind.
Jack Califano
