But now, he says, you cannot walk a block in any borough without knowing what's going on.
“The Knicks being in the Finals is bigger in New York than the Super Bowl,” Greenberg said.
Why the Knicks Resonate
Suzyn Waldman, the voice of the Yankees who covered the Knicks for a decade, has a theory.
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“Every other sport has more than one team,” she told USA Today Sports. “For a long time, it was just the Knicks.
It’s the city’s sport. All you need is a basketball court and a ball.”
She notes that generations of players, coaches, and scouts came from New York, creating deep connections with fans.
The Spurs roster itself includes Brooklyn native Julian Champagnie, who played at Bishop Loughlin and St. John's.
Harvey Araton, longtime New York Times columnist and author of When the Garden Was Eden, agrees.
He points out that the Knicks' arena sits in the heart of Manhattan, with Penn Station running underneath.
“The Yankees play in the South Bronx. The Mets are out in Flushing.
The Knicks play literally in the heart of New York. It connects everyone to this arena,” Araton told USA Today Sports.
After the Knicks swept the Cavaliers to clinch their Finals spot, fans flooded Seventh Avenue.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning sanctioned watch parties around the city for every Finals game.
For fans like Greenberg, the stakes are personal.
He sat next to his father at hundreds of Knicks games growing up, and now he's taking his own children.
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“I’ve waited essentially my entire life to see one of my teams win a title,” he said.
