Overjoyed Knicks fans poured out of Frost Bank Center after the Knicks prevailed over the Spurs.
New Yorkers converted the stadium into Madison Square Garden south for Game 5, as they traveled to Central Texas to see the historic night, the first Knicks championship victory since 1973.
“I’m very emotional. We finally did it. I never had one in my lifetime. I’m still in shock,” said James Gabriel, 50.
Joseph Gentile and his wife Carol Gentile 50, shared in the triumph after making a last-minute decision to travel from Manhattan to witness the historic moment.
“We couldn’t miss it,” Joseph said. “We knew, we had a feeling this was gonna be it. We decided Thursday morning, we said, eff it. Let’s do it. We got on a plane.”
Jared Whitmore, 43, from Queens said that he “waited for this moment my whole life, I feel like I can die a happy man right now. I knew it.”
“Knicks in 5. We are a team of destiny,” he continued.
“This is for my grandmother, who died a Knicks fan, who bled orange and blue.”
“Y’all don’t know our struggling. We deserve this.”
As the energy continued to grow, officers on horseback wearing protective gear moved into the crowd outside Frost Bank Center to manage the mass gathering, causing the crowd to disperse.
Spike Lee made an appearance and addressed Knicks fans. He spoke to one fan privately and then waved to the rest of the group.
Knicks fans were calling “speech, speech,” pleading him to make a larger announcement. However, he didn’t.
Fans chanted “We did it! We did it!”
Spurs fans, on the other hand, began to leave early before the ending ceremony.
Some were mourning the loss but looking to the future with optimism, yelling, “Next year. Next year.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
