Fifty-three years. That is how long the Garden waited. On October 20, the Knicks finally raised a championship banner to the rafters, then went right back to work against LeBron James in his first regular-season game as a Sixer. The next night, Brooklyn answered. The Nets opened at Barclays with Julius Randle back in a New York uniform and No. 6 pick Mikel Brown Jr. making his debut.
When both arenas are rocking, the city runs hot. Trains fill up early, the bars around 33rd Street and Flatbush Avenue are packed by six, and getting home turns into its own game. Here is how to run the night right.
Circle These Nights at MSG
The champs got the schedule they earned. On November 27, the Heat bring Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Garden for the first time in a Miami jersey. On Christmas Day, the Knicks host the Spurs at noon, a Finals rematch and the sixth straight year New York owns the holiday’s early game. On January 30, Luka Dončić and the Lakers roll in for Brunson versus Luka during the league’s Rivals Week.
On nights like these, the Garden doubles as a runway. Celebrity Row shows up dressed for the cameras, and the stands are full of vintage Ewing jerseys, fresh orange and blue fits and sneakers that cost more than the tickets. Dress for the moment. Just plan for the cold walk out.
Brooklyn’s Building Something
This is the borough that gave the world Biggie from Bed-Stuy and Jay-Z from the Marcy Houses, and when Barclays opened in 2012, it was Jay who christened it with eight sold-out shows. This year the Nets are young and fast. Brown headlines a new core, and Randle, who spent his best years at the Garden, now plays on the other side of the bridge. Hours before the game, the blocks around Atlantic and Flatbush fill with fans grabbing food in Fort Greene and Prospect Heights.
Heading home to Park Slope, Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg or Bay Ridge after a late one? Local car services like Gotham Ride Chauffeur Service can set up a pickup a few blocks from the arena, away from the crush at the main doors. You can book ahead at gothamride.com.
Getting In Is Easy. Getting Out Is the Real Game
The Garden sits right on top of Penn Station, so the subway, the LIRR and NJ Transit all drop you underneath it. Barclays has its own hub, the Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr station, with the LIRR’s Atlantic Terminal next door. You will get there.
The final buzzer is another story. Close to 20,000 people pour out of the Garden at once, around 18,000 out of Barclays. Platforms jam. App prices jump. The curbs fill with cars circling for riders who cannot find them. During last season’s Finals run, the NYPD blocked off the area around MSG and banned crowds from gathering outside. Big nights this season could bring the same, so plan your pickup a block or two away, say up Eighth Avenue from the Garden or across Flatbush from the Barclays plaza.
Roll Deep or Get Left
Friends in Knicks colors ride to Madison Square Garden in the back of a Sprinter van
Game night hits different with your people. The problem is getting them all there and back. Split ten friends into three app rides and you get three waits, three prices and one person stuck alone on the wrong corner. That is why some groups book a Sprinter van for the whole crew: one pickup, one driver, one price set ahead of time, and everybody home on the same ride. A Sprinter fits up to 14.
Most van services want a few days’ notice and an hourly minimum, so lock in the big dates early. Christmas Day at the Garden and the Lakers game in late January will go first.
The Game Night Checklist
● Check each arena’s bag rules on its website before you leave. They change, and a big bag can cost you a trip back outside.
● Get there early. Security lines at both arenas build fast in the last half hour before tip-off.
● Pick your meeting spot before you go in, not after. Phones die and service gets spotty in a packed arena.
● Driving into Manhattan? Cars with E-ZPass pay a $9 peak toll at or below 60th Street, and MSG sits deep inside that zone. Midtown parking adds up fast.
● Book group rides for holiday games and rivalry nights the day you get tickets.
The Whole City Is the Arena
A banner hanging over the Garden. A young team with real buzz in Brooklyn. A Christmas rematch with the team the Knicks beat for the title. This is a season to be in the building. Get the tickets, get the crew together, and sort out the ride home early, not while you are standing on Seventh Avenue at 10:30 p.m. with a dead phone.