TORONTO — For the native New Yorker inside the Yankees clubhouse, Saturday night was a little different for Anthony Volpe than the rest of his teammates.
The shortstop insists he always believed he would see the Knicks win a championship, though he also acknowledged that faith may have come in large part from his “childhood delusional fandom.”
But as he watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night with his mom and sister, first at a restaurant and then back at the team hotel, it all became real as the Knicks broke their 53-year drought and beat the Spurs to become champions.
“Unbelievable,” Volpe said Sunday morning at Rogers Centre.
Volpe, who was not even born yet the last time the Knicks had played in the NBA Finals, has enjoyed following along and going to games at the Garden as they went from the bottom of the barrel to legitimate contenders in recent years.
Meanwhile, Volpe’s teammates have had some fun with his Knicks fandom during this playoff run.
“I think I’ve maybe even been the funny mascot of the team, so everyone’s enjoyed that,” Volpe said. “But I’ve just been enjoying it and taking it all in.”
Aaron Boone said he was watching Game 5 Saturday night before somehow falling asleep with six minutes left. So he spent Sunday morning watching SportsCentre and catching up on all the clips from the championship celebration.
“Just to see that team and the way they came together, the amazing run they went on in the postseason, that team will be immortalized,” Boone said. “Just excited for them and excited for a lot of people in New York that it’s been a long time coming.”
Like Volpe, Boone said he has gotten to know some of the Knicks in recent years, including Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, who threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium before a 2024 game.
And while he said it was still too early in the season to let his mind fully wander to what it might be like if the Yankees can follow the Knicks’ cue and finish the job in the playoffs, Boone drew some takeaways from their run.
“It’s just a great example of a team that’s certainly faced more than their share of adversity and questions and all that,” the manager said. “I think their mental toughness and championship mettle ended up winning the day and obviously getting them to the top of the mountain this year.
“Fun to see that. Because each one of those guys, to varying degrees, went through rough moments, getting beat on at different points for different reasons. And they all persevered through it. It’s not an easy thing to do. That’s why they’re champions.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
