Long Island Knicks fans in disbelief over team's steamrolling on way to NBA Finals
Knicks fans during a watch party outside MSG on April 28, 2026. Credit: Ed Quinn
David Brown had an epiphany.
He was sitting in his Riverhead home Saturday night watching Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and the Cavaliers when it struck him, some point during the second half of the visitor’s 121-108 surgical dismantling of the home team.
The Knicks were in the midst of one of their three extended runs in the final 24 minutes when the realization came to pass.
His favorite team was heading to the NBA Finals.
“I want them to win it all,” Brown told Newsday while waiting for a Long Island Railroad train at Penn Station Tuesday morning. “Very exciting.”
Following Monday night’s 130-93 rout in Game 4, the Knicks are Eastern Conference champions for the first time since 1999. And with four more wins, the Knicks would claim the franchise’s first championship since 1973, and its third overall.
And for Brown, who was clad in a Knicks cap and baseball jersey, the possibility of Jalen Brunson and his mates holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy aloft in a few weeks time is tantalizing.
“It,” Brown said, “would mean the world.”
His sentiment was echoed by Dylan Feehan of Bellmore.
Dylan Feehan of Bellmore. Credit: Denis P. Gorman
“This is crazy,” said the 24-year-old who wore a Derrick Rose No. 25 Knicks jersey and said Brunson is his favorite player. “I’m a Rangers fan. I’m a Knicks fan. I’m a Mets fan and a Giants fan. Hasn’t really been that much to look forward to in the past couple years.
“New York’s very split. We [have] Rangers-Islanders, Mets-Yankees. The Knicks are the one uniting front that we got. Everybody rallies behind them. So it’s huge. It’s bigger than basketball. It’s huge for the city. The atmosphere is amazing and I love every second of it.”
Like Brown, Feehan is a lifelong Knicks fan. Both grew up hearing the tales of the 1970s championship squads and the 1990s teams that fell short of winning it all. So watching these Knicks rip off 11 straight wins–10 by double-figures–has been an exhilarating experience.
One that is wholly unexpected.
“Not a chance,” Feehan said, when asked if he envisioned the 2026 iteration’s dominance of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. “And if I ever did, [it would be] not so soon. I would have thought maybe I’d be 40 years old [with] my own kids at that point. I’m very shocked. In a good, great way. Very shocked.”
As excited as Brown and Feehan are, they are acutely aware that there is one more series to go. The Knicks will meet the winner of Oklahoma City-San Antonio beginning June 3.
The Knicks won 2 of 3 regular-season matchups against the Spurs (including the title game of the NBA Cup), but dropped both matchups against the Thunder.
Whomever comes out of the West–entering Tuesday night’s Game 5, the best-of-seven-series was tied at two games apiece–will be a step up in weight class for the Knicks, who finished the regular season at 53-29.
Still, Feehan–who went with a friend to the Game 4 watch party at Radio City Music Hall–is thinking about what the atmosphere in Manhattan and on Long Island would be if the Knicks were the last team standing.
“If they actually pull this off, I don’t even know what it would be like,” Feehan said. “I’ve never seen it. I [don’t have a] frame of reference to go by, but I know it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be absolute mayhem in the best way possible.”
