We asked fans around New York: What would a Knicks championship mean for them and the city? In a word: Everything.<\/p>\n
Dear Knicks . . .<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be incredible. This team\u2019s been getting close the past couple years. They\u2019ve got a great young core. When the Knicks are doing well and they\u2019re winning championships, it also helps us at the Stadium, man. The fans are pumped up here at every game. We\u2019re rooting for \u2019em. We\u2019ve got their back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Aaron Judge, captain of the Yankees<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Knicks win, that means that my father is looking down on them and saying, \u2018Yes, go, go, go.\u2019 He passed away just before Mother\u2019s Day. He was watching the finals. He was like, \u2018Oh, my boys are going to do it,\u2019 but he couldn\u2019t see them do it. And thank God that they have swept everybody. This is amazing. And I\u2019m so excited to actually be able to say, \u2018This is for my dad.\u2019 Go Knicks. You got an angel on your side.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Shukura Gardner-Petrus<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you grow up in the streets of New York in the late \u201850s, rooting for the Knicks in the \u201960s and getting that championship, it was awesome those two years of championship basketball. And now we get a chance once again. And there\u2019s no doubt in my mind \u2014 don\u2019t worry about Jalen Brunson being Second Team. He\u2019s the best player in pro basketball this year. And OG, don\u2019t worry about being Second Team Defense. You\u2019re the best defensive player in the league. Go Knicks!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Rick Pitino, St. John\u2019s basketball coach<\/p>\n
\u201cFor my students here at Nesaquake, it\u2019s a daily master class in resilience. It proves to these kids that if you put your head down, do the dirty work and play for the guy next to you, you can conquer the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Dan McCabe, principal of Nesaquake Middle School<\/p>\n
Outside Madison Square Garden Knicks fans celebrate winning game 4 of the Eastern conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s special. We\u2019re all pulling for them. We\u2019re watching every play, every game, every time we can. The whole city, the Mets, everybody\u2019s behind you guys. Keep it rolling. Four more. It\u2019ll be something special for all of us here in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Carlos Mendoza, Mets manager<\/p>\n
\u201c2026 has been the year for New York City basketball. We had the LIU men\u2019s basketball team win the NEC championship and make it to March Madness. And now the Knicks are only four wins away from an NBA championship. It was only a few years ago where no one would have ever thought this was possible for either one of these teams. What this Knicks run shows is that in the greatest city in the world, New York City, anything is possible. Fins up and best of luck bringing a championship home to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 David Pochapin<\/p>\n
\u201c1973 in New York City. Watergate. The Vietnam War. We were a divided city. But the Knicks brought us together with their championship against the Lakers of [Wilt] Chamberlain and [Jerry] West. Oh, it was Willis Reed and Walt \u2018Clyde\u2019 Frazier. And now once again I\u2019m reminded, as we\u2019re on the cusp of another NBA championship, this is what\u2019s bringing the city together. The suburbs, the urban area, where you could get together real Knick fans over the years. Real Knick fans who disagree on everything but come together for the good of a city that\u2019s polarized, in which it\u2019s negative, it\u2019s divided. And the Knicks are bringing us all together, hopefully through the Canyon of Heroes, a championship parade where you\u2019ll see the most unlikely people cheering the world champion Knicks together on the steps of City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels<\/p>\n
Tattoo artist Val inks a Knicks logo on fan
\nCraig Stevens. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think New York would be on the map like they wanted to be with the Knicks. For real. I think New York is definitely going to be wilding out, and I\u2019m pretty sure if they made it this far, they\u2019re going to make it all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Emily Colon<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the pastor of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. It\u2019s exactly one-half block away from Madison Square Garden. I\u2019ve been a Knicks fan for over 50 years. I was there when it happened, when they won the championship in 1973. The Knicks will win the championship this year when they beat their opponent next week. This is a great joy for New York City. Let\u2019s go Knicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Father Brian Jordan<\/p>\n
\u201cA New York Knicks victory is like Joey Chestnut winning on the 4th of July. You know everything is right in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 George Shea<\/p>\n
utside Madison Square Garden Knicks fans celebrate winning game 4 of the Eastern conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would a Knicks championship mean to me? I\u2019ve been waiting for this moment all my life. New York City needs this, man. Fifty-three years since 1973. No, we need this. We need this\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Gil Vazquez<\/p>\n
\u201cNot IF the Knicks win the championship \u2014 WHEN they win the championship. This place is going to be on fire. Tri-state area. Oh my goodness. Let me tell you something. The mecca of basketball is New York. And the greatest fans, sports fans in the world, come from New York and they deserve this. So I\u2019m so proud of the Knicks. I can tell you Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Earl \u2018The Pearl\u2019 Monroe. Once you win a championship in New York, you\u2019re never forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jayson Williams, former Nets player<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean the world to me, honestly. There\u2019s a blue and orange that needs to get it right \u2019cause the Mets, you know, I\u2019m also a Mets fan. But they\u2019re gonna do it, I believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Joshua Lopez<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up a Knicks fan my whole life, every birthday was a new Knicks jersey. Do it for me, do it for Carmelo [Anthony], do it for [Patrick] Ewing, do it for those guys. We don\u2019t want any more jerseys, we want a trophy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Louie Selvaggio<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean everything to me. We\u2019ve been waiting for this for more than 50 years. We probably have to write new legislation to rename laundromats because of how he\u2019s been washing these teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the single biggest licensed event in the history of New York. And more importantly, it will bring the whole city together unlike any other win than any team in New York\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mitchell Modell, former CEO of Modell\u2019s Sporting Goods<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything. It\u2019s the one franchise since the \u201970s that has not won anything. Giants had it. Rangers had it in the \u201990s. They haven\u2019t won since the \u201970s. This is probably the one fandom team that does not split in New York City. You have the Brooklyn Nets and everything, but it\u2019s the one fandom that never splits anybody. We have Rangers, we have Islanders, we have Jets, we have Giants. Giants won championships. Rangers won championships in the \u201990s. If you\u2019re from New York and you\u2019re an original New Yorker, the Knicks are your team. And I\u2019m 37 years old and never seen one. You see the crowd out here. You see how they react. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Nicholas Ramos<\/p>\n
Knicks fans celebrate winning the eastern conference championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the New York Knicks win the championship this year, that\u2019ll be the greatest thing I\u2019ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. It\u2019d be amazing. I feel like the whole city will go wild, including me. I might crowd surf. There are a lot of things that I might attempt to do if the New York Knicks win a championship. That\u2019s for certain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Nisaun White, a server at Roberta\u2019s in Penn Station<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you been outside? Everybody\u2019s polite for no reason. Everybody\u2019s smiling. Republicans are celebrating with Democrats. Ultra-conservatives are celebrating with ultra-lefties. The New York Post, of all people, asked me about my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Public Advocate Jumaane Williams<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a great time to be a Knicks fan. In 1999, we were in the finals, but we didn\u2019t go all the way, unfortunately. You got to go back all the way to 1973 where the Knicks went all the way and won the NBA championship. This is our time. History is with us. We\u2019re going to take that championship and bring the cup home to New York City and all of New York. Let\u2019s go Knicks. Let\u2019s do it. It\u2019s been waiting a long time. We\u2019re all Knicks fans. We can\u2019t wait for them to beat San Antonio over the head.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited for them. I\u2019ve had the fortune of getting to know a couple of their guys over the last couple of years. To see the level they\u2019re playing at right now is really fun to witness. The run \u2014 what, they\u2019ve won, 11, 12 games in a row in dominant fashion? The West is going to be tough but I feel like they have a special, special thing going on and hopefully they can bring one home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Aaron Boone, Yankees manager<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, let\u2019s pray for the Knicks. Let\u2019s pray for the players, their managers, and all the fans just for these next couple of days to be united as one and, yeah, just whatever happens, give glory to God. So, we ask you to send your blessing upon the Knicks in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Father Steven McClernon, Beach Catholic in Long Beach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We asked fans around New York: What would a Knicks championship mean for them and the city? In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35539,26622,21,37011,56784,80162,9,24,55,54,1104,56,319,6015,82],"class_list":["post-252599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-aaron-boone","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-playoffs-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-sports","tag-sports-fans","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252599","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=252599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}