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4 min read<\/p>\n4 min read<\/p>\n
PART OF BEING a Knicks fan is the pain<\/a>. When your team hasn\u2019t won a championship in 52 years (and counting), you know the hurt. In fact, you know the hurt so well that you\u2019ve become more or less numb to it. The hurt, in a way, becomes something that draws those of us in this small community together. Many Knicks fans of today weren\u2019t even around for that last title, but we all know the pain of rooting for a team that as recently as half a decade ago seemed destined to be a dog shit laughingstock year in and year out.<\/p>\n As the culture editor for Men\u2019s Health and someone who\u2019s been working in the entertainment space for more than 10 years, I\u2019ve had the chance to cross paths with a number of actors, filmmakers, and others who share my sports allegiances. But it\u2019s not fun to talk to someone about the Yankees, a perennial winner (even if they haven\u2019t won a World Series since 2009). It is fun, however, to bond over the dire nature of being a Jets fan with Dylan O\u2019Brien<\/a> or to ask Benny Safdie<\/a> whether or not this could finally be the year for the Knicks.<\/p>\n One person who\u2019s never wavered, though, is Spike Lee<\/a>. In the master director\u2019s world, every year is the year for the Knicks. The man has seen infinitely more games in his life than I ever will, and his signature seats guarantee him a better view than any of us will ever have. And, again, let\u2019s be abundantly clear: the Knicks have been bad. But Spike Lee has never lost faith.<\/p>\n So, when I had the chance to talk to Lee last fall about his latest film, Highest 2 Lowest<\/a> (a Denzel Washington-led remake of the classic Akira Kurosawa crime thriller High and Low), of course I had to get at least a little bit of Knicks talk going.<\/p>\n Spike Lee celebrating the New York Knicks\u2019 sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our year,\u201d he said when I showed him my favorite blue Knicks hat. \u201cIt\u2019s our year.\u201d<\/p>\n But I know that Spike Lee is the most positive, optimistic, sky-is-never-falling Knicks fan of any. Meanwhile, my perpetually high expectations for the handful of longtime losers I root for (which also include Penn State\u2019s football and basketball programs) have been beaten down over the years, making it harder and harder to fully buy in each season.<\/p>\n So, without even thinking, I told him: \u201cI hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n The spirit of our interview, broadly, was Lee giving me a little bit of shit. If I stumbled over a word or a sentence, he let me know it. If I couldn\u2019t remember a character name for a split second, I was liable to be roasted. And so my soft optimism was not received lightly.<\/p>\n \u201cAin’t no hope,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is our year.\u201d<\/p>\n Through movies like Do the Right Thing and 25th Hour, Lee has long proven to be ahead of his time, predicting societal behaviors through his colorful landscapes and thoughtfully crafted characters. In the next couple of weeks, we\u2019ll see if this time, he was able to forecast something even bigger for our long-tortured and long-beloved New York Knickerbockers.<\/p>\n For the first time since 1999, the Knicks have won the Eastern Conference, defeating the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers in dominating fashion. Next week, they\u2019ll contend for a championship for the first time in my adult life.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s quickly establish just how big of a deal this is. We are talking about something that has not happened since 1999. The last time the Knicks were in the finals, The Matrix was a new release. The words \u201cFight Club<\/a>\u201d had no association with Brad Pitt. Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a>, another Knicks superfan who has been often seen during the team\u2019s run through the gauntlet, was three years old. John F. Kennedy Jr. was sitting courtside; He would tragically die in a plane crash a month later.<\/p>\n Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Spike Lee celebrating the Knicks success.<\/p>\n This whole run has gotten me thinking about all sorts of things. It got me thinking about just how much fun it will be if and when another team I can hardly remember winning\u2014the Jets\u2014have their moment. It got me feeling like I\u2019ve perhaps been taking the success of the Yankees for granted. And it got me thinking, again, about the bond that losing, tortured sports fans have. If I had this moment with Spike Lee\u2014and we see the bonds unfolding courtside between Knicks players, fans, Lee, and his fellow celebrity superfans like Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan, and Mariska Hargitay\u2014then really anyone can. It feels amazing to see this team I\u2019ve lived and died with for my entire life finally paying something off. But it almost feels even better to know there are so many people right there with me. None of us are taking this for granted.<\/p>\n And, look, not to even put this out there, but if the Knicks don\u2019t win, it would still be our year. There hasn\u2019t been this kind of energy and excitement around this team in nearly three decades. Let\u2019s take what we can get.<\/p>\n But the Knicks community doesn\u2019t want any kind of moral victory. We want it all.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0ff3bdfe-427a-49d1-962d-76c4dadd425a.jpeg\" "\\"New")
Gregory Shamus\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fe9693a1-8569-4e8d-ba16-25b481f52712.jpeg\" "\\"Boston")
Elsa\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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