{"id":269449,"date":"2026-06-17T11:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/269449\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:41:22","slug":"knicks-fan-braved-12-hour-flight-delays-psychotic-spurs-fans-but-it-was-worth-it-to-see-ny-win-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/269449\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks fan braved 12-hour flight delays, psychotic Spurs fans — but it was worth it to see NY win it all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seeing the New York Knicks become world champions<\/a> for the first time since 1973 with my own eyes was easily the most chaotic 24 hours of my life \u2014 and perhaps the best. <\/p>\n

The drama absolutely wasn\u2019t limited to the San Antonio Spurs hardwood as New York\u2019s orange and blue heroes pulled away in the dying seconds to win Game 5, 94-90 in an explosive 16-point comeback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Diehards who made the last-minute trip to Texas endured travel nightmares \u2014 and a share of distasteful fans who didn\u2019t quite extend southern hospitality after the loss.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers took over Texas to see the Knicks win the NBA title Saturday. AP Photo\/Darren Abate<\/p>\n

Bad actors behaved in a deplorable manner<\/a>, just as pseudo-Knicks fans did terrible things<\/a> in NYC to Spurs faithful.<\/p>\n

I saw a lunatic in a white pickup truck laugh and point a gun at two Knicks fans minding their own business waiting to cross a street \u2014 and other New Yorkers told me they got egged like Victor Wembanyama<\/a> during the finals while in Manhattan, among more stupidity over a damn game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knicks fans celebrated the championship after flying to Texas to see New York win in person. Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

What did the group do? They sprayed a bottle of champagne and smoked cigars on the San Antonio Riverwalk as if nothing had happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The duo briefly held at what the driver thought was a humorous little gunpoint incident shook it off right after too. Some true and good-hearted Spurs fans \u2014 like the vast majority Saturday were \u2014 even waited with them until their car arrived.<\/p>\n

No New Yorker cared about the nonsense, which plenty back in the Big Apple were equally, if not more, guilty of that night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Knicks were finally kings of the NBA again. <\/p>\n

Post reporter Alex Mitchell celebrates with pal Mike Nicosia after the Knicks won. Alex Mitchell \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I\u2019ll remember about my impromptu and haphazardly planned trip, one that cost a pretty penny but was still a discount compared to a good seat at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t care about the 4 a.m. wakeup call and early bird flight to Dallas Saturday, where a good friend of mine drove us the next four hours down I-35 to the greatest live game either of us ever witnessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We stopped at a Buc-ees 146 miles north in Temple and saw several other Knicks fans en route to the Doobie Brothers\u2019 beloved city<\/a> as part of New York\u2019s takeover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several New Yorkers were seen at a Buc-ees almost 150 miles north of San Antonio, like Post reporter Alex Mitchell.<\/p>\n

After road tripping the four hours back to Dallas Sunday morning, it\u2019s an afterthought that my 3:36 p.m. flight home landed almost exactly 12 hours later at around 3:36 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We had a series of nightmare delays, starting with air traffic control issues, then weather, and finally hearing our pilot \u201crejected\u201d the plane we were supposed to take.<\/p>\n

But hey, 12 hours is a lot quicker than 53 years.<\/p>\n

More than thinking about the aimless time wasted and changing terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth, my mind goes to the tons of Knicks gear I saw throughout the airport of happy fans heading back home \u2014 eventually, that was.<\/p>\n

Flight-delayed New Yorkers cared more about seeing the win than being stuck in airports. Charles Wenzelberg \/ NY Post<\/p>\n

Everyone you passed had a smile and offered a fist bump \u2014 high-spirited TSA officers in Dallas gave me a Knicks cheer and high five as well. Plus, I struck up fantastic conversation with fellow fans waiting for the same flight.<\/p>\n

I must have heard \u201care you going to the parade<\/a>?\u201d at least a dozen times.<\/p>\n

We were all overjoyed, chatting about coach Mike Brown\u2019s fabulous core, including the legend himself, Jalen Brunson, who is expected to return next season when the banner goes up at MSG.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody was thrilled about being stuck, but if you have to be in an airport for hours, doing it with a unanimously united bunch of New Yorkers is the way to go.<\/p>\n

Knicks lovers overran the Alamo Saturday afternoon as you couldn\u2019t turn a corner in San Antonio without seeing team gear at Riverwalk bars, restaurants, hotels, or, truthfully, anywhere.<\/p>\n

Many Knicks fans like Post reporter Alex Mitchell posed in front of the Alamo on Saturday. Alex Mitchell \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

It carried over at the Spurs\u2019 home court inside the Frost Bank Center, where New Yorkers owned the noise factor and booed Wemby during warmups to an almost ground-shaking decibel level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just about my entire section in the rafters was filled with journeying Knicks fans, standing with palpable nervous energy almost the whole game, eager to witness long-awaited history.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget the pure elation on the away crowd\u2019s faces when OG Anunoby hit the title-clinching free-throw with 7.7 seconds to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seeing the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy hoisted at mid-court was a family affair as owner James Dolan got a fever pitch of electric praise from the huge crowd that remained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Yorkers took over the Knicks vs. Spurs game in Texas on Saturday night. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Strangers in the stands cried, hugged, shook hands and offered congratulations to one another as if it were a personal achievement like delivering a healthy baby or getting a major promotion at work.<\/p>\n

If you yelled \u201cGo New York Go New York Go!\u201d on your way out of the arena, 50 voices would send it back.<\/p>\n

It gave you chills \u2014 and a glow that will last much longer than memories of the grueling voyage there and back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seeing the New York Knicks become world champions for the first time since 1973 with my own eyes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3346,776,57,37011,80162,9,1104,56,63,65,64,9138,319,1777,956],"class_list":["post-269449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-air-travel","tag-long-island","tag-metro","tag-nba-finals","tag-nba-playoffs-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269449","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=269449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}