For the first time in 27 years, the NBA Finals will make their way to New York. After years of frustration and mounting losses, the New York Knicks reached the finals.
Standing in front of them, as it was in 1999, were the San Antonio Spurs. One of the city’s famous fans still cannot believe what is happening.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Rendered Stunned by Knicks Finals Run
Since 2000, the Knicks have only boasted four 50-win seasons. As a result, expectations were rarely met. Now, the team is four wins away from its first NBA title since 1973.
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani sat down with Pablo Torre to discuss what the team’s recent success means for the city and, on a personal level, how he feels about their postseason run.
“It feels incredible. … It feels like the undercurrent emotion is that of joy.”
—@NYCMayor and @PabloTorre sat down to talk the Knicks’ NBA Finals run, Eid fits and what a potential Mike Breen triple “bang” could do for the city pic.twitter.com/yycaGaBKuX
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) June 2, 2026
“It feels incredible. The feeling of a small town. The feeling of when you see somebody, whether they’re wearing a Knicks jersey or not, it’s “Let’s Go Knicks,” declared Mamdani, currently in his first term as the mayor of America’s largest city.
Many believe that New York is a basketball town. From legends like Lew Alcindor and Julius Erving to current Knicks guard Jose Alvarado, the city is known as a basketball hotbed.
Later in the interview, the mayor displayed the inner feelings of some Knicks fans who remain eternally skeptical.
“Everyone just kept praying like, ‘Surely this is too good to be true,'” asserted Mamdani. Knicks’ history backs up the doubt that apparently pervades the fan base. For example, at halftime of Game 7 in the 1994 Finals, the Knicks trailed the Houston Rockets by two points.
Guard John Starks, who the team counted on to provide scoring, posted just eight points. Worse, he finished the game shooting 2-for-18 from the field. On top of that, he missed all 11 three-point shots. New York lost by six points.
Five years later, star center Patrick Ewing suffered an Achilles tendon injury that forced him out of the playoffs. The Spurs defeated New York 4-1 in the 1999 NBA Finals.
The Spurs have home-court advantage in the series, hosting the first two games before flying to New York for two, potentially wrapping up two of the last three. In a town with the winningest team in American sports history on the same island (Yankees), can the Knicks finally win a championship?
