{"id":244613,"date":"2026-05-27T00:17:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244613\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T00:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T00:17:53","slug":"brooklyn-knicks-fans-celebrate-the-teams-historic-return-to-the-nba-finals-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244613\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Knicks fans celebrate the team\u2019s historic return to the NBA finals \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Knicks fans erupted in celebration Monday night as New York punched its ticket<\/a> to the NBA Finals for the first time in 26 years, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals and reigniting hopes of ending the franchise\u2019s 53-year championship drought.<\/p>\n

At a packed watch party at The Commissioner on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, fans cheered, hugged and chanted as the final buzzer sounded, celebrating a long-awaited return to basketball\u2019s biggest stage after decades of heartbreak, disappointing seasons and playoff collapses.<\/p>\n

The team made history by winning 11 consecutive games in a single postseason, and some fans predicted the Knicks would end their 53-year championship drought no matter who they face in the finals. The Western Conference finals series between the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder is currently tied 2-2.<\/p>\n

\"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Park Slope native Gregory told Brooklyn Paper he expected an NBA Finals rematch between the Knicks and the Spurs. The last time the two teams met in the Finals was in 1999, when the Spurs defeated the Knicks 4-1 to capture their first NBA championship behind the Twin Towers duo of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, along with veterans Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson and Mario Elie.<\/p>\n

Despite all the fanfare surrounding Spurs star forward-center Victor \u201cWemby\u201d Wembanyama \u2014 whom Shaquille O\u2019Neal described as the \u201cfirst perfect big man that\u2019s ever been created\u201d \u2014 Gregory said he wasn\u2019t impressed by the \u201cwonderchild,\u201d who has an astonishing 8-foot wingspan. Gregory predicted the Knicks would sweep the Spurs in a Finals matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWemby needs to come to New York and get a taste of New York. We\u2019re going to scoop them by poking him and prodding him like a whole cow,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cWe\u2019re healthy, we\u2019re excited. We\u2019re gonna get another sweep, another series, guaranteed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaun wasn\u2019t as sure about a Knicks-Spurs matchup but said the Knicks could \u201cdefinitely\u201d beat Oklahoma City thanks to the team\u2019s \u201cgrit and persistence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spurs are a little scary,\u201d Shaun told Brooklyn Paper. \u201cIf we do get the Spurs, we just gotta hope that the role players aren\u2019t hitting the threes, and we\u2019re attacking as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Lifelong Knicks fan Jon Gretah was a child when the Knicks lost in the NBA Finals to the Houston Rockets in 1994 and to the Spurs in 1999.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it, I\u2019m emotional. The Knicks are everything to me,\u201d Gretah told Brooklyn Paper, adding that it didn\u2019t matter which team the Knicks faced in the Finals because \u201cthey\u2019re both chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he acknowledged that the Spurs and Thunder were strong Western Conference teams, he said he was confident the Knicks could handle Wembanyama and Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, also known as SGA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it looks like right now, we were unstoppable, but I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re gonna sweep,\u201d Gretah said. \u201cBut the fact that the Knicks are in the finals is crazy to us. It was just a couple of years ago that they were the worst team in the league, and it\u2019s just been a f\u2014ing slog all the last like 20 years. So, this is big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Knicks fans celebrated the Knicks\u2019 return to the NBA Finals after 26 years.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Brendan Byrnes, owner of The Commissioner, said he was impressed by the energy of the crowd, which packed not only the bar but also the outdoor seating area, where fans watched the game on two screens. He said he believed the Knicks could beat either the Thunder or the Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe finals are gonna be incredible. [It\u2019s] the first time since \u201999, I wasn\u2019t in New York at that point, but you can tell how excited the city is. The way they\u2019re looking right now, I feel like they\u2019re unstoppable,\u201d Byrnes said.<\/p>\n

Michigan native Kinani moved to New York City four years ago and said she loved the euphoria among Knicks fans.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the camaraderie here and the passion about the New Yorkers wanting the Knicks to win. I just love the passion, and I\u2019m here for it,\u201d Kinani told Brooklyn Paper.\n<\/p>\n

Brandy Thomas and her friends were at the Portland Fire-New York Liberty game at Barclays Center while the Knicks clinched their spot in the NBA Finals.\n<\/p>\n

Usually die-hard Nets fans<\/a>, the group attended the game because their childhood friend, Queens native Emily Ann Engstler, plays for the Portland Fire, Thomas explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re New York, Emily\u2019s from New York. We love New York, but you know she\u2019s not here right now, so we\u2019ve got to root for our girl always; that\u2019s our number one,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brandy Thomas (right) and her friends were at the Portland Fire-New York Liberty game at Barclays Center while the Knicks clinched their spot in the NBA Finals. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Thomas predicted a Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tied for the Spurs and OKC, but Wemby is going to come and show out. I don\u2019t know if the Knicks will be able to contend against the Spurs, but we\u2019re going to root for them anyway. Either way, we\u2019re going to be in MSG. We\u2019re going to be there to celebrate win or lose,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

The first NBA Finals game will be played June 3 at 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Knicks fans erupted in celebration Monday night as New York punched its ticket to the NBA Finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[6212,4567,95531,98,100,99,95532,10663,95118,37011,56784,9,24,1104,12,370,63,8005,319,95345,54478],"class_list":["post-244613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-bar","tag-basketball","tag-brandy-thomas","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-jon-gretah","tag-knicks","tag-knicks-fans","tag-nba-finals","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-park-slope","tag-sports","tag-the-commissioner","tag-watch-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}