Standing on an empty basketball court in the heart of San Antonio\u2019s historic Mexican American neighborhood, Angel Lopez relived the nail-biting moments that led to the Spurs\u2019 first victory in this year\u2019s N.B.A. finals.<\/p>\n
The win was a much needed balm for Mr. Lopez and the people of San Antonio, who were left bruised in more ways than one after the Knicks had captured two wins and the nation\u2019s attention early in the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all I hear all day, Knicks, Knicks, Knicks,\u201d said Chris Thomas, 40, a longtime Spurs fan from San Antonio who works in cybersecurity. \u201cLet them talk about the Knicks. Let them underestimate us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outsize confidence is one thing San Antonio is not short on. The Knicks may attract some of the most recognizable<\/a> celebrities in the nation \u2014 even President Trump<\/a>. But make no mistake, in San Antonio, the nation\u2019s seventh largest city, the Spurs are the celebrities, with a winning history that is not forgotten across the city. Since 1973, the last time the Knicks won an N.B.A. title, the Spurs have won five.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they win, we win, because they represent us, me, San Antonio,\u201d said Mr. Lopez, an 18-year-old who coaches basketball to children.<\/p>\n Spurs fever is everywhere. Strangers greet each other on the streets with \u201cGo Spurs Go!\u201d About 10,000 people showed up at a watch party Monday at the Spurs\u2019 arena, the Frost Bank Center, even though the team was 1,824 miles away in New York City. And for those who can\u2019t afford tickets in one of the country\u2019s poorest cities<\/a>, Spurs fans are content with visiting the various pop-up art centers throughout the city.<\/p>\n \u201cWemby and the team will surprise everyone,\u201d Mr. Thomas added, referring to Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs\u2019 22-year-old star center.<\/p>\n Gerardo Torres, 25, a therapist who moved to San Antonio from Brownsville, Texas, years ago, said that while San Antonians are rabid Spurs fans, they tend to be respectful of the Knicks fans who have descended on Frost Bank Center because buying a plane ticket and booking a hotel is still a lot cheaper than<\/a> a seat at Madison Square Garden. After Game 3 in New York, Spurs fans were subjected to verbal and physical abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Mr. Torres came across two people wearing Knicks jerseys at a bar a recent day, they carried on without animosity.<\/p>\n Rosa Narvaez, 54, a school employee, and her 13 children have been Spurs fans ever since they can remember. Ms. Narvaez was 27 when the Spurs won the championship in 1999.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though everyone is talking about the Knicks, I know this is our year again,\u201d she said. \u201cI can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n On game night, Ms. Narvaez and three of her children joined dozens at a watch party at a commercial center known as the Pearl. Ms. Narvaez showed up with a cape decorated with an image of Mr. Wembanyama for luck.<\/p>\n \u201cWemby has been coming with me to all the games,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hours later, the charm seemed to have worked, she said. The family joined hundreds of Spurs fans in the noisy street-honking tradition that takes place after each win. Ms. Narvaez got out of her car and waved a large Spurs flag. Still, she had kind words for the Knicks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the biggest hype because they haven\u2019t won in a while. But we are hungry for it too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Lupita Gonzalez, 18, who tutors youth in the city\u2019s historic Westside, a Mexican American cultural hub, said the Spurs\u2019 finals appearance has inspired her underprivileged children to aim higher.<\/p>\n \u201cThey send a message to never give up, even though things may get rough sometimes,\u201d Ms. Gonzalez said. <\/p>\n Rebecca De Leon, 37, a banker from San Antonio, agrees. On a recent day, she smiled while watching her 11-month-old son, Andrew, wearing a No. 10 Spurs jersey, dunk a small basketball into the opening of a folding chair.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are generational Spurs fans,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Standing on an empty basketball court in the heart of San Antonio\u2019s historic Mexican American neighborhood, Angel Lopez…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4567,78318,9,11,1104,10,99097,9138,1777],"class_list":["post-261939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-basketball","tag-nba-championship","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-news","tag-san-antonio-tex","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261939","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=261939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}