\u2022 Complete coverage:\u00a02026 NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n
SAN ANTONIO \u2014 For the fortunate person who might be associated in some way to a winning basketball team, he is awarded the game ball, the sign of respect, following a victory.<\/p>\n
In Ben Stiller\u2019s hands late Saturday night, straight from the New York Knicks\u2019 triumphant locker room, was a clipboard. And what would he do with that?<\/p>\n
Write a script, perhaps?<\/p>\n
Well, it would be hard for him to pen something that could top the Knicks\u2019 Game 5 victory<\/a> which ended a 53-year championship dry spell. Even though Stiller, an actor and comedian whose films have grossed over $2 billion, might come close if he tried.<\/p>\n And actually, as he and other celebrities followed the Knicks along this journey both at home and on the road, Stiller does have a Knicks-themed project in the works. He has documented his tales on his cell phone camera and while he politely mentioned \u201cI can\u2019t say much about it right now,\u201d chances are good it will have some famous faces and a happy Knicks ending.<\/p>\n How could it not? The Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs with a closeout win Saturday and, as usual, Stiller and Spike Lee and Timoth\u00e9e\u00a0Chalamet and John Turturro and other A-listers sat up close and absorbed it all.<\/p>\n \u201cAn over the top experience\u201d is how Stiller described being connected with the team for almost two months.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt\u2019s insane, and to be so close to it and to be filming it, and to be around the team, they\u2019re just such a great group of guys. I just left them a few minutes ago. Never been that close to that type of celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s saying something, coming from an actor who no doubt received invites from the swankiest of Hollywood parties in the past.<\/p>\n But Stiller, much like Lee and Chalamet, grew up in New York and therefore attached themselves to the Knicks very early and a while ago. They\u2019re real Knicks fans and because of their authenticity in that regard, doors were open to them \u2014 locker room doors.<\/p>\n Longtime Knicks fan Ben Stiller was a courtside staple at home and on the road during New York\u2019s run to a title.<\/p>\n As the Knicks sashayed off the floor Saturday and into a jubilant locker room, Stiller was along for the joyous ride, got splashed with champagne, the whole nine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been incredible to be up close and live it and in a small way,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fan exhaustion of the series is real. You also realize how stressful it is mentally for the players. Almost like a war of attrition. The tension builds every game and it gets really, really intense. They were down every game by double digits. It took so much for them to fight back and take this series and the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n By virtue of their location smack in the middle of Manhattan, surrounded by success, the Knicks own the priciest and most famous front row in the NBA if not all of professional sports, with Los Angeles and the Lakers the only rival. These actors and singers sit up front and get splashed on the overhead screen during games, and even people in the upper deck tend to feel close to them because for that moment they\u2019re in the same building with the same rooting interest.<\/p>\n And during this Knicks championship run, the profiles of the famous were only magnified, especially in the Finals. Again, Stiller had a spot behind the ropes because of his steady support and allegiance, and he values the relationships he formed in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be close to these guys,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can feel their energy. A group of guys who weren\u2019t big stars. Karl-Anthony Towns never had a championship. All these players had something to prove.\u201d<\/p>\n Stiller was asked which experience was greater and more meaningful to him \u2014 the Knicks\u2019 astonishing and record-breaking 29-point comeback in Madison Square Garden in Game 4, or the championship clinching Game 5 in San Antonio?<\/p>\n \u201cThey both were amazing,\u201d he said, after pondering the comparison. \u201cThe fact we won tonight, I\u2019m a little numb by it. Game 4 was one of the most exciting experiences I\u2019ve had at the Garden. Not that this (close-out win) was anti-climatic, but as it was over, you just said to yourself that it\u2019s happening, it\u2019s really happening.\u201d<\/p>\n He paused and pointed.<\/p>\n \u201cOh look, there\u2019s the MVP trophy walking by.\u201d<\/p>\n More than anything, Stiller seemed genuinely happy for New York City and the starved Knicks fan base, of which he was a member.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fans of New York waited so long for this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy what\u2019s going on in New York right now. The emotion of the city. People my age who lived through it in the \u201890s. My son, who\u2019s 20 grew up with the rough years. And now it\u2019s finally here.\u201d<\/p>\n He made a point to mention one person in particular:<\/p>\n \u201cSpike, man, he lived through it all.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing\u2019s for certain: Those courtside seats at the Garden will be in more demand now, given that the building will once again \u2014 finally \u2014 be home to an NBA champion. Figure that Stiller and the other faithful famous folks will witness the raising of the banner on opening night next season, and beyond.<\/p>\n After living and mostly dying with the Knicks and the team\u2019s previous championship attempts, this is euphoria.<\/p>\n \u201cThey made it happen,\u201d said Stiller, who then carried his satisfaction and his new-found clipboard out of the building and into a new day and age for the Knicks.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at\u00a0spowell@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on\u00a0X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, A$AP Rocky, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Kylie Jenner and Spike Lee react to the Knicks\u2019 comeback…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,356324,85],"class_list":["post-737717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-nba-finals-knicks-ben-stiller","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Stiller_1920x1080.jpg\")
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