{"id":318939,"date":"2026-06-02T09:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/318939\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:34:15","slug":"ny-sen-kirsten-gillibrand-texas-sen-ted-cruz-set-friendly-wager-ahead-of-states-showdown-in-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/318939\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz set friendly wager ahead of states\u2019 showdown in NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Yorkers and Texans are ready for their states to square off in the NBA Finals \u2014 and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Ted Cruz even agreed on a wager in a rare show of friendly sportsmanship across the political aisle.<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks<\/a> and the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> are set to tip off at Frost Bank Center, the Texans\u2019 home court, Wednesday night. Tensions are already flaring between die-hard fans, including MAGA Republican Cruz and Democrat Gillibrand.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made a bet with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cruz tagged Gillibrand in a post on X and suggested betting on their respective states\u2019 teams.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the [Knicks] win (not gonna happen!) the series, then you & your team get Texas BBQ, Shiner Bock beer & Blue Bell ice cream. When the [Spurs] win, the loser wears the winner\u2019s jersey. Deal?\u201d Cruz pitched.<\/p>\n

\"Gillibrand<\/p>\n

Gillibrand and Cruz agreed to take the winner and their staff out to dinner. Getty Images for Human Rights Campaign<\/p>\n

Gillibrand agreed and said she would treat Cruz and his staff to a hearty meal at \u201cthe world-famous Joe\u2019s Pizza and Brooklyn Lager\u201d if the Knicks fall to the Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo NY Go!\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The politicians\u2019 uncharacteristically amicable t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott trolled New York<\/a> Gov. Kathy Hochul on X.<\/p>\n

Abbott posted an AI-generated image on Sunday depicting himself in a Spurs jersey \u201cdunking\u201d on Hochul, clad in a Knicks jersey, with President Trump laughing from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted a less-friendly picture of himself \u201cdunking\u201d on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. X \/ @GregAbbott_TX<\/p>\n

\u201cSpurs about to dunk on Knicks like Texas has been dunking on New York. Go Spurs Go,\u201d Abbott wrote.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Hochul crafted a short-and-sweet response on Monday, taking a jab at Abbott\u2019s staunch stance on transgender people\u2019s participation in athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBREAKING: Greg Abbott comes out for men and women competing on the same court,\u201d Hochul wrote.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs are competing in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

The oft-opposed politicians aren\u2019t the only ones putting their pride on the line for the good of the game.<\/p>\n

When the Knicks were still giving the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> a slow death in the Eastern Conference Finals, a pair of cheesesteak connoisseurs wagered their livelihoods<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frank Olivieri, proud owner of Philadelphia<\/a>\u2019s iconic Pat\u2019s King of Steaks, and Louis Cretella, co-owner of Dario\u2019s Pizza in West Hempstead, agreed to cook in the winner\u2019s restaurant while decked out in the opposite team\u2019s gear.<\/p>\n

When the Knicks came out on top in Game 4<\/a>, Olivieri assured he would make good on his promise and cook for Cretella \u2014 while decked out in Knicks merchandise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Yorkers and Texans are ready for their states to square off in the NBA Finals \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[392,20217,101327,6537,188,6396,11720,6403,1066,7883,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-318939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-greg-abbott","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-kirsten-gillibrand","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-ted-cruz","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}