Yankees catching playoff fever of Knicks and Rangers
Yankees lefthander Nestor Cortes, left, and former closer Mariano Rivera watch Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round Playoffs between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on May 6, 2024. Credit: Getty Images
Yankees players Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and Nestor Cortes were among the fans who got to watch the Knicks beat the Pacers in Game 1 of their playoff series at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
The rest of the week, the Yankees had to work while the Knicks and Rangers were playing in the postseason. But that doesn’t mean the players and the Yankee Stadium crowd weren’t keeping up on the winter sports teams.
All week, the Yankees showed highlights of the Knicks’ and Rangers’ playoff games on the big screen — but only when the New York teams had something good happen.
“It’s been great,” manager Aaron Boone said on Thursday. "It's certainly great for New York. You can feel that buzz. It is awesome when they throw the Rangers [highlights] up there. You know a goal’s coming.
“In fact, [Wednesday] night, I said on the bench at some point late in that game, I'm like, ‘Knicks must not be winning because I haven't seen a highlight up there yet.’ And sure enough, a bat boy heard me and said, ‘Yeah, they’re down 10.’”
The Knicks ended up rallying to beat Indiana and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“You can definitely feel the energy and the excitement around what the Knicks and the Rangers are doing,” Boone said. “Hopefully the Rangers and Knicks can play for at least another month, and then we can give them reasons to get excited here in the Bronx. But it's an exciting time for New York, for our [players] that have been to games and things. I think it's something that athletes enjoy, too.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
