Category: Basketball

You could call it a spirited gathering.

As Gotham’s team of the moment rallied to a nailbiting 107-106 Game 4 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the last 1.2 seconds Wednesday night, a watch party haunted an unusual — if not ghoulish — locale: Sparrow Contemporary Funeral Home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The gathering drew about 75 Knicks fans-turned-funeral-home-guests, who savored the home team’s shocking recovery from a 29-point deficit within the parlor’s two service rooms, each space featuring a large projector screen, ample seating, and a spread of wine, beer, soda, chips and some appropriately orange and blue snacks. 

Perhaps Knicks fans from the great beyond even joined them in spirit?

Sparrow owner Erica Hill told The Post that she’d initially been shocked by the “micro-viral” response to her initial Instagram posts promoting the party — one featuring a Knicks logo and cheeky overlay text proclaiming, “We know a thing or two about loss.”

That said, Hill, who founded the boutique spot in November 2021, has never viewed her business as a site solely for the morose, having hosted book launches, meditative experiences, and even comedy shows in the open-concept space.

At the watch party, while the volume was more respectful than an unruly bar level, it was still a lively group — and why not?

“My whole thing is, why can’t a funeral home be more than a ‘death space?’” said Hill, who intentionally designed Sparrow with light-colored walls, contemporary artwork, and skylights to go against the dark, gloomy funeral home archetype. “Why can’t it be a community space, where [people] come together to do many things?”

It wasn’t the only unexpected venue with a pop-up party, either.

The mosque at the Islamic Center of New York City in the West Village expected about 100 fans for its own gathering Wednesday night. And Jersey City’s Liberty Science Center welcomed revelers to a raucous Game 4 “After Dark” bash inside the soaring, 89-foot dome at Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, with plans for another this Saturday for what Knicks fans hope is the championship finale, with Jalen Brunson and crew now leading the series 3-1.

Funeral guru Hill has cheered in the Knicks’ journey through the team’s run, but she was really inspired to host her shindig after seeing the recent video of the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony “KAT” Towns in which the NBA standout spoke about feeling his late mother’s presence on the court during Game 1 of the finals.

In the viral interview, Towns — who lost his mother Jacqueline Cruz in April 2020 due to complications from COVID-19 — said that he felt “a calm and a peace” while playing, having felt like he was “seeing her in the stands.”

A deeply moved Hill lost her own father, a lifelong basketball fan and player, a few years prior.

“We live in a society that doesn’t like to talk about people who have died, our grief or our sadness,” said Hill. “And then you see this New York Knicks [player] talk about his mom and how clearly he felt her presence — I just thought that was so beautiful [and] to honor him, we should have our own watch party here.”

Knicks cap-wearing attendee Will Borowski, a 28-year-old grave digger and monument restoration worker at Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery, first learned about it through a friend, death doula Gabrielle Gatto, who attends regular professional meet-ups at Sparrow.

Borowski confessed that he thought the idea seemed more than a little “out there.”

But, ever-willing to try new things, the native Brooklynite and avid Knicks fan tagged along — and almost immediately felt that it was “everywhere [he] needed to be.”

“Being a grave digger, it starts out, like, ‘Oh, my God, there’s this family grieving their loved one,’” Borowski told The Post. “After a while, it all blends into one job that I have to do … I think being here puts that into perspective. Everyone’s here because they grew up knowing somebody who was a big fan of sports, and that person touched them in a way that left a lasting impact.”

Instead of a funeral guest sign-in book, though, a Knicks logo-emblazoned easel board titled “Who Are You Watching For?” awaited party-goers, who added the names of departed loved ones who were dedicated sports fans.

For Borowski, that person was his uncle Kevin.

“He’s always someone I’ve sort of kept in my heart since he passed — we would always B.S. about why teams were doing well, why they weren’t doing well,” said Borowski. “He was the first person I thought of when I walked in here.”

For 32-year-old Gatto, who also works at Green-Wood, attending the event was a no-brainer.

On the board, she honored her uncle Vinnie, a firefighter and captain of Bed-Stuy’s FDNY Engine Company 235 who died of 9/11-related cancer.

“He would have loved this because he really lived life to the fullest,” Gatto told The Post. “His number one thing was to show up and be weird and see who falls in love with you because of that, and I think that’s what’s happening right here, right now.”

Sara Donnellan, a 31-year-old writer, checked out the party with her husband, Drummond Dominguez-Kincannon, after a friend initially shared the funeral home’s Instagram post with her as a joke. Having attended one of the home’s comedy shows in years past, she remembered being “impressed” by the warm environment and the unique way that Sparrow aimed to demystify death.

Dominguez-Kincannon, on the other hand, was a bit more hesitant when she asked whether he wanted to go.

“I was, like, ‘I don’t know, do I?'” Dominguez-Kincannon told The Post.

However, after his wife explained Sparrow’s mission, he quickly changed his tune.

“I’d thought, OK, that’s pretty cool,” Dominguez-Kincannon recalled. “I won’t be walking into a gloomy space … When I walked in, I was, like, all right — vibes seem high.”

More than anything, attending a Knicks party at a funeral home made the couple reflect on how grief and joy can often walk hand-in-hand — and at their best, bring the community together.

“I like the idea of coming into spaces like this, not just for a loved one passing,” said Sara. “Just recognizing that it doesn’t have to be this scary space — it can be just like any other place in the community that opens up doors.”

Ron Swoboda. Stephane Matteau. Graeme Lloyd. David Tyree. OG Anunoby.

The pantheon of players who’ve come to New York and stamped themselves in playoff lore is short and sweet and celebrated. Anunoby’s Right Hand of God tip-follow with 1.2 seconds left completed a 30-point turnaround, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, lifting the New York Knickerbockers to within one win of their first title since 1973. Diving catches in the World Series, a double-overtime series-winning goal, an improbable stretch of dominance, a freak play you couldn’t repeat if you tried 100 times . . . and OG may have topped them all.

Without the bitter life wouldn’t taste so sweet, but for the first 40 minutes the Knicks played like their pregame meal was grapefruit rinds. San Antonio built the biggest halftime lead for any Finals road team — 27. With just over nine minutes left, the Spurs were up 20. In an irony worthy of O. Henry, it happened despite Mike Brown’s team, having raised the issue of the free throw disparity after Game 3, quadrupling the visitor’s attempts by the break (23-6).

It was the 3-point shooting, natch, creating the division between the sides, with the visitors +30 from deep by halftime. For much of the first half, I thought, “All right, they can’t keep making 60% of their 3s,” which gave way to “They really gonna make 60% of their 3s?!” Understand: for far longer than is decent, the Spurs were on pace to score 180 points. On offense, they couldn’t miss. On defense, they made Jalen Brunson endure a triathlon just getting the ball past midcourt. Karl-Anthony Towns took two shots the whole first half, the victim of an absurd coach’s challenge in the game’s first minute. The Spur reserves outscored the Knicks’ 22-2. Pick your poison, it all pointed to the same end. Not that some of us lost sight of the big picture.

Madison Square Garden belongs to the people, and we the people all, eventually, belong to the dead. There are ghosts at 33rd and 8th. Ghosts that don’t take kindly to 22-year-olds throwing cheap shots, reveling in their protected status at the league office and mouthing off about being in someone’s head when they’re down in the series and there’s most of the game left to contest. The Knicks needed to look within. They needed the crowd. But they also needed the ghosts.

When San Antonio’s lead was at its peak, 29, Victor Wembanyama — bet your bottom dollar the league overturns it — was whistled for a flagrant foul for swinging a ‘bow into KAT’s face. Obviously the ghost of J.R. Smith briefly possessed Wemby, making him go one step too far with the aggression while making amends for the 2013 elbow on Jason Terry, the one that sent a promising oasis of a season down the tubes (Mixed metaphors, I know. I’m a goof). The rest of the way it was 55-25 Knicks.

The last time the Knicks came this close to a title, a small sparkplug guard who played harder than anybody, whose superpower was his effort, couldn’t hit a basket in Game 7. The ghost of John Starks was with Jose Alvarado last night. The Puerto Rican demigod played only three minutes in the first half but 12 in the second, giving the Knicks a critical second ball-handler to give Brunson a chance to be Brunson. 10 of those minutes were in the fourth, when he hit all three of his shots for eight points, including an essential bomb with three minutes left to make it a four-point game.

By his lofty standards, Patrick Ewing struggled in the one Finals he played in. The scoring touch just wasn’t there. So what did The Big Fella do? Just haul in a Finals-leading 12.4 rebounds while setting the record for blocks in a Finals. The ghost of Aloysius was with Towns last night. KAT had a team-high 10 rebounds and broke his fourth-quarter scoreless streak. Most importantly, KAT was there. Playing. Present. Even when he wasn’t looking to shoot, the threat Towns presents kept Wembanyama out guarding him away from the basket, opening up some precious real estate for the other Knicks to do their thing.

Early on, my nightmare scenario was coming true: with KAT in early foul trouble and Mitch Hack-a-Mitch’d, Mike Brown had to turn to Ariel Hukporti and Jeremy Sochan for first-half minutes at the 5. I like them both, but no. After only eight first-half minutes, Towns staying out of foul trouble the rest of the way let him play 18 in the second. He wasn’t much of a scorer, but he grabbed seven rebounds post-intermission and dished a couple of dimes. He did whatever they needed from him to win this game. All the players did.

And the coach, and while some people continue to debate the relative worth of Mike Brown, I say any coach who in the biggest spot looks more Red than Riley is worth his weight in gold. The ghost of Pat the Rat’s decision to play Starks ad nauseum when he couldn’t make a jumper, with Rolando Blackman on the bench, has haunted any Knick fan who lived through that Game 7 in Houston; Riley himself has said it’s his biggest coaching regret.

When the 1970 Knicks lost Willis Reed early in Game 5 of the Finals, Cazzie Russell and Dave Stallworth stepped up as the entire Knick squad pulled in one direction, ultimately toppling Wilt Chamberlain. There’s a difference between a total team and a top-heavy group.

Brown played 12 Knicks in the first half. Tom Thibodeau would have shrunk the rotation to four. But in order to best the Spurs’ modern-day Prometheus, it was going to take a true team effort, every last ounce every last one of them could muster. And they did. And they did it. The Spurs made 28 shots in the first half. Second half? Eight. New York closed on a 32-11 run, their eleventy billionth huge run of this postseason.

The Knicks winning the championship was never going to happen in a dull, mundane fashion. It was always gonna take something like the greatest Finals comeback in league history. And you know? There was literally no point last night when I thought they were done. That is a quality unique to this Knick of any I’ve ever watched. I was frustrated and confused as they fell behind. I was sick of all the (understandable) gushing over San Antonio’s play the first two or three or three-plus quarters. I was never without hope. I was never even without certainty.

One of the oldest ghosts at Madison Square Garden has been the fake comeback, for years the symbol of everything we loved and lashed out at with this team. The fake comeback is the epitome of team-sponsored torture — they let you down, only to build you up, only to let you down, like you *knew* they always would.

These Knicks? They never let you down. Can you believe it? We’ve waited 53 years to say that.

Quoth Mike Breen after OG’s tip-in: “It’s good! It’s good! It’s good!” It is. It really, truly is. Last night wasn’t just a comeback for the ages. It was catharsis, the breaking of one identity and the premiere of a new one. Like the 2004 Red Sox. Or a hermit crab. Or Carrie, after the prom. The “LOL Knicks,” the “Knicks for clicks,” the “not a model of intelligent management” Knicks? They’re on life support. They could be, should be the new ghosts, and sooner than later. The old Knicks are dead.

All hail the new New York Knicks.

From celebrity row at Madison Square Garden to the feud between owner James Dolan and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over security at watch parties, Knicks fans have become a focal point of the 2026 NBA Finals. But they're not all making the best impression with the franchise in the spotlight again, just one win away from winning its first championship since 1973.

The unfortunate behavior may now include an apparent egging attempt on the Spurs' best player.

Another wave of arrests occurred during the celebrations that followed the Knicks' thrilling comeback win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, June 10, and video later emerged on social media of an object thrown at Spurs star Victor Wembanyama from the swarm of New York fans waiting outside the team's hotel. The caption on the original video referred to the object as an egg.

This latest incident comes on the heels of videos that appeared to show a fan wearing a Spurs jersey being attacked after NBA Finals Game 3 in New York, and drew a strong reaction in the aftermath of the Knicks' historic comeback.

"If you're throwing eggs at Victor Wembanyama and, the other night, if you're beating up on people, threatening, or doing anything to people wearing Spurs jerseys, just know that you are a disgrace," ESPN's Mike Greenberg said on "Get Up," while also referring to these particular Knicks fans as "lunatics."

"You're not disgracing the city, you're disgracing yourself and everyone that knows you, and that should go without saying," Greenberg added.

Wembanyama looked back briefly but otherwise did not appear to react when the object was thrown at him following Game 4 on Wednesday. Another angle makes it appear as if the object (likely an egg) hit a street sign near where Wembanyama was walking and liquid (yolk?) splashed near him.

He was then quickly ushered into the hotel by security without further incident.

Someone just perfectly threw an egg at Wemby LMFAOOO pic.twitter.com/yvPPzWZaAf

— 🌧️ (@wstgoat7) June 11, 2026

Knicks fans WAITED for the Spurs at their hotel and somebody threw something at Wemby and hit him

THIS IS ACTUALLY INSANE MAN WTF
pic.twitter.com/9guYUKJI1z

— Hater Report (@HaterReport) June 11, 2026

There were fan gatherings across New York City as the Knicks completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, but some again required law enforcement involvement.

According to the NYPD, across multiple locations around the city, 56 people were taken into custody, 15 were arrested, and 41 were released with criminal court summonses. Some of the charges included assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon (knife), reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, and trademark counterfeiting.

The NYPD previously released surveillance photos related to the Game 3 incident and announced it was looking for a group of five men charged with robbery. They allegedly surrounded a man wearing a Spurs jersey walking back to his hotel around midnight in midtown Manhattan and "proceeded to punch and kick the victim about the body and forcibly removed the victim's basketball jersey from his body."

"Being a Knick fan doesn't mean being disrespectful to Spurs fans in any way," actor and celebrity Knicks fan Ben Stiller wrote on social media ahead of Game 4. "We get caught up during the games but we gotta show respect to our fellow humans."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Knicks fans blasted for Victor Wembanyama egging, NBA Finals conduct

I woke up this morning.

I know, I’m as surprised as you are, but I did. I woke up. I went downstairs. I made coffee and it tasted exactly like it did yesterday. The sun was shining through the windows. My kids were playing with their Legos. Everything was fine. Perfect, actually.

It’s always striking to me how relentlessly life just marches on with so little regard for the circumstances and events that fill in the blanks. Nothing slows down, nothing speeds up. Time may be relative, sure, but it’s also consistent. Tomorrow will forever follow today.

If you’re reading this then, congratulations. You also survived. What happened in Madison Square Garden on June 10th didn’t kill you. It probably didn’t feel great either, but that’s beside the point. We’re here. We’re alive. There’s nothing to be done except pick up the pieces.

Now, we could certainly sit here and rehash the game if you’d like. The big lead. The big collapse. The missed opportunities. The OG play. Taylor Swift. I have a whole book full of notes and we can dissect it piece by piece. I’m sure we’ll find plenty of excuses and reasons for everything in there. Hidden gems that will tell us exactly when and where it all started to fall apart. If bet if we look close enough, we can pinpoint the exact second our hearts ripped in half.

For the life of me though, I can’t imagine wanting to go through that again. I’d rather figure out what we’re going to do now.

We could wallow, obviously. Lord knows there’s every reason to. But, look, we all watched Knicks fans spend the 48 hours between Games 3 and 4 having a collective existential meltdown on every podcast, show and platform they could find. We watched them take to the streets and cry to the heavens about the injustice, the indignity, of having to suffer through a 2-1 series lead. I watched a crowd of people yell obscenities at a man in a DeMar DeRozan jersey. These are not serious people.

I have no interest in doing anything like that. Frankly, it’s unbecoming.

Last night wasn’t the refs. The league doesn’t have a vendetta against us. The Illuminati didn’t convene and determine that in order for the world to prosper, the third biggest market in Texas needs to be humiliated on national television. We just lost. It was brutal and it was basically every sports fan’s worst nightmare come to life. But that’s all it was. A loss.

And we survived.

Y’all, we are so unbelievably lucky. Maybe it’s a little hokey of me to be preaching gratitude at a time like this, but like, ask a Sacramento Kings fan if they’d trade places with us. Ask a Hawks fan. A Clippers fan. Hell, go back in time four years ago and ask a fan of the Spurs team that finished 15th in the Western Conference and tied for the worst record in franchise history. Today feels pretty awful but I don’t think I’d trade it for anything.

You can’t get your heart broken if you never go to the dance.

We’re in the NBA Finals. We have one of the most talented, young rosters in the history of the league. We have a 7’4″ Shaolin monk who hits step back threes. We have five banners flying back home in our arena. We have Tim, Manu, and Pop waiting on the tarmac to help pick up the pieces. We have each other.

If you still feel bad, that’s okay. Feel it. Embrace it. Live with it. If you’re not watching sports to feel something then you’re not doing it right.

Eat, drink, and be merry.

Game 5 is Saturday.

Takeaways

• It never felt safe. Not for one single second and if you did feel safe you’ve not been paying attention. It was going too well. The shots were too clean. Everything was going to plan. That’s just…not how any of this works. It felt like a trap the entire time. A guy I was watching with made some comment about how, like, “Can you imagine paying 15K for those seats and now you’re having the worst night of your life?” and as soon I heard that question I almost turned the TV off. We tempted fate. We flew too close to the sun. They gave us all the clues.
• I’m willing to give De’Aaron Fox some grace on that last play where he tried to go to the rack in transition. I know he’s being a little defensive about it right now, trying to explain his thinking on it, and that’s okay. He allowed to do that. It all happened really fast and the moment got away from him. There were no shortage of mistakes to go around last night and I’m sure no one feels worse about it than he does. Fox is going to be heard from again in this series, I can feel it.
• At one point in the 4th quarter, I think I said something along the lines of “I’d be okay if we never shot another three the rest of the game.” I hate to be that guy, but I just wanted us to go to the rim over and over and over again. That’s all I wanted. Burn clock. Go to the rim, if you get blocked whatever, but make them work. It’s like we were just trying to re-catch lightning in a bottle and that’s simply not how lightning or bottles works. The lightning was gone. Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe that wouldn’t have worked either. That game simply felt destined to break our hearts one way or another and there isn’t really a tactic or scheme lurking around in some playbook to combat destiny.
• Maybe it will change as we get a little further away from it, but I’m pretty sure this still wasn’t as bad as the Ray Allen shot. It’s close! As close as I ever want to even remotely get ever again, but it’s not as bad as the ropes already being out for the celebration. Nothing will ever be as bad as that. And even if it is, I mean, hey, everything turned out okay in the end, right?

Why do we fall?
So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
Batman Begin

— Michael Caine (@themichaelcaine) August 19, 2024

• Spurs in 7.

WWL Press Conference

I, uh, am not sure where to go on this one.

Yeah. Sort of hard to like, lean into the fun bits after you spent the evening watching Detective Benson, Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters dance on your grave.

Pretty undignified way to go.

It’s not what you want. It really is such a surreal experience to be living through a horrific sports trauma and then the camera cuts to Adam Sandler in a giant hoodie clapping along to your demise. I’m trying to process my grief and David Zaslav is staring at me in a backwards hat. There’s not a playbook for things like that. We weren’t trained for this.

Do you think it’d feel better if it were just random Knick fans instead?

I think the concept of whatever that was last night “feeling better” in any way, shape or form is not something I think is worth entertaining right now.

Spurs in 7 though?

Spurs in 7.

The Washington Wizards will meet with former Brigham Young star AJ Dybantsa in Washington, perhaps as soon as today, according to David Aldridge and Josh Robbins of The Athletic.

Per Aldridge and Robbins, the Wizards may meet Dybantsa as soon as today. And so you know, it’s not set in stone that the Wizards will pick him. Former Kansas star Darryn Peterson may still be in the mix. Per the piece:

The Wizards are also likely considering taking Kansas guard Darryn Peterson with the top pick. The 6-foot-5 Peterson averaged 20.2 points for the Jayhawks and shot 38 percent on 3-point attempts. His ability to create and shoot off the dribble, along with improved decision-making as a primary ballhandler and his potential as a plus defender at the pro level, make him an intriguing prospect.

Looks like the Wizards will keep us in suspense about which direction they will go until the end. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

As the wheels were coming off for the Spurs, Stephon Castle stepped out of bounds to turn the ball over with 65 seconds remaining — or did he?

With 1:05 left and the Spurs having already blown a 29-point lead, down 105-104, Castle drove baseline against Josh Hart and was called for stepping out of bounds, though further replay shows he may never have stepped out at all.

Out of bounds?

Stephon Castle appeared far more surprised given what looked like a pretty noticeable shove that went uncalled.

Maybe another camera angle clears it up later.

For now, this feels incorrect.#PorVida#NBAFinals#GoSpursGopic.twitter.com/vffQEMab0u

— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) June 11, 2026

The Spurs used a challenge in the opening 65 seconds of the game to get Karl-Anthony Towns hit with an offensive foul call.

The successful challenge allowed them another, but they took it back home after the Knicks’ astonishing 107-106 victory.

Castle appeared to fling his hand and elbow into the head and neck area of the defending Hart, who embellished the action to make it look much worse than it actually was.

Castle still could have been called for an offensive foul on the play if not for the out-of-bounds call.

Still, The Garden was rocking and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was seldomly heard from as his group of young players collapsed on sports’ biggest stage.

“The dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization,” Charles Barkley said, blasting the Spurs after collapsing against the Knicks.

Castle ended the game shooting 2-for-7 but was clutch from the free-throw line, going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

He ended the game with 13 points, five assists and five rebounds and is far from the biggest reason the Spurs lost.

Timothée Chalamet may have been the most animated Knicks fan inside Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

The actor was seen going wild after the Knicks pulled off a historic comeback against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, winning 107-106 to take a 3-1 series lead.

Videos circulating on social media showed Chalamet hugging, bouncing and celebrating with seemingly anyone in his path as the Garden erupted around him.

At one point, Chalamet appeared to grab a reporter’s microphone and keep hold of it while dancing near a group of Knicks cheerleaders, with the chaotic postgame scene turning into something close to a mosh pit.

The Hollywood star was also seen celebrating with girlfriend Kylie Jenner, other courtside celebrities and Knicks players after one of the wildest NBA Finals finishes ever.

Timmy is a man of the people pic.twitter.com/upyWmeT2Sg

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 11, 2026

Another video shows Chalamet ripping off his jean jacket and t-shirt to go tarps off as the celebration continued.

Chalamet, a longtime Knicks fan and New York native, looked every bit as overwhelmed as the rest of the building after the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to move within one win of their first NBA championship since 1973.

timothée chalamet getting shirtless after the knicks win tonight pic.twitter.com/FjVDXGYmd4

— timothée chalamet nation (@timotheenation) June 11, 2026

The comeback was sealed in dramatic fashion.

OG Anunoby tipped in a missed Jalen Brunson 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to give New York the lead, capping the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

The Spurs had looked poised to even the series after building a huge advantage, but the Knicks slowly clawed their way back as the Garden crowd came roaring back to life.

By the final buzzer, MSG had fully lost control.

timothee chalamet stealing the mic from the reporter oh my god he’s insane pic.twitter.com/q66nsSMe9c

— timothée chalamet nation (@timotheenation) June 11, 2026

The party spilled onto the court, where Chalamet quickly became one of the most visible faces of the celebration.

Ben Stiller, one of the franchise’s most recognizable celebrity fans, was also part of the postgame bedlam as New York moved to the brink of a title.

The Knicks now head to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday night with a chance to close out the series.

After decades of waiting, New York is one win from a championship.

Chalamet’s wild postgame scene captured exactly what that meant inside the Garden.

Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari was on hand at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, June 10, watching two of his former Kentucky standouts in the NBA Finals.

He chose the right game to attend, as he sat courtside near Adam Sandler and watched the New York Knicks complete a 29-point comeback win, the largest in Finals history.

Calipari, one of the best developers of NBA talent in college basketball history, coached both San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox (2016-17) and Knicks forward Karl Anthony-Towns (2014-15) at Kentucky. He also coached NBA Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson, who averaged 13.2 points per game off the bench for the Spurs this season and played one season at Kentucky in 2018-19.

What an unbelievable night at The Garden! It’s hard to even explain the feeling in that building. Two unbelievable teams, high-level competitors and a building pulsing with emotion and passion.

It was so great to see Karl, De’Aaron and Keldon, as well as two of my other great… pic.twitter.com/oRbutfa7qY

— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) June 11, 2026

Coach Cal wasn't too far from Taylor Swift, either. He was a bit too nervous to introduce himself, though.

"What an unbelievable night at The Garden!" Calipari wrote on X after the game while sharing a selfie with Adam Sandler. "It’s hard to even explain the feeling in that building. Two unbelievable teams, high-level competitors and a building pulsing with emotion and passion. It was so great to see Karl, De’Aaron and Keldon, as well as two of my other great big guys - Marcus Camby and Dakari Johnson!

"I am so happy for my friends Leon Rose and William Wesley and the staff in New York for what they have built. I got to spend some time with all the Knicks Alums, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock but I was too nervous to introduce myself to Taylor Swift! LOL!

"Watching those two teams, with their guards showing incredible fight, focused on winning and MAKING OTHERS BETTER, I couldn’t help but think about two guards in this upcoming draft who do the same things. Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas along with Trevon Brazile are going to make a couple of franchises very happy!! CANT WAIT TO START COACHING MY TEAM!!!! Now back to recruiting!!"

As Calipari mentioned, he's about to add two more high-level guards to the NBA ranks in Acuff Jr. and Thomas, both of whom are projected to be first-round selections. Acuff Jr., a Wooden Award finalist in 2026, is a projected top-10 pick after averaging 23.5 points with 6.4 assists per game this season. Thomas, meanwhile, averaged 15.6 points per game in 2025-26 as a true freshman.

Guys being dudes 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5TvWPm1aKF

— Arkansas Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB) June 11, 2026

Calipari has coached numerous elite NBA players at the college level, including back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has also mentored Derrick Rose, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, John Wall, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, to name a few.

The 67-year-old coach said he had never seen a comeback quite like what the Knicks pulled off in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. That was, until, he and Camby, who played for Calipari at UMass, remembered the Minutemen's comeback over West Virginia in 1995.

"I have never seen a pro game comeback like that," Calipari wrote, "but Marcus Camby and I looked at each other and said UMass at West Virginia in 95. Lol."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Calipari reacts to 'unbelievable night' as former players face off in Finals

Chad Baker-Mazara’s right knee buckled every time he tried to step. His hamstrings felt so tight as if they were about to pull. 

He was doing whatever he could to get warm inside the Galen Center tunnel. Defensive slides. Jumping. Running, jogging in place. No matter what he did though, his body just wouldn’t respond.

“My body was telling me, ‘No, buddy,’” Baker-Mazara told USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive interview. “‘As bad as you want to play, it’s a no-go.’”

Baker-Mazara took a hard fall while blocking a shot in the opening minutes of the second half against Nebraska on Feb. 28. It would end up being his final play in a USC uniform as everything quickly devolved into one of the most puzzling moments of the college basketball season. 

The next morning, USC announced Baker-Mazara — their leading scorer in the 2025-26 season — was no longer with the team in a two-sentence-long statement with no further details given.

"Chad being Chad" is a common saying among those close to and familiar with Baker-Mazara's energy-driven personality. Perhaps that passion, misconstrued or not, was at play here.

USC senior associate athletic director Cody Worsham told USA TODAY Sports the university won't comment on matters related to student-athlete discipline. But, in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports, Baker-Mazara is ready to tell his side of the story.

The Trojans held a five-point lead at halftime, thanks in large part to Baker-Mazara’s game-leading 14 points, but once he landed on his lower back, the sixth-year senior felt the impact radiate to his hamstrings and knees.

“I never felt this pain before,” he recalled telling the USC training staff.

Baker-Mazara was told he was good to get back into the game, but he physically couldn’t get himself right again.

So instead, Baker-Mazara listened to his body. He walked back out of the tunnel and straight to the coaching staff on the sideline, told them he couldn’t go back in, walked over to the baseline and took his usual seat on the crowded USC bench next to Rodney Rice.

Interesting part of Nebraska vs. USC game yesterday, Chad Baker-Mazara left the game with an injury briefly, came back out to the court but didn't sit on the main bench with the team rather courtside for the rest of the game.

Today, USC moves on from Baker-Mazara.⬇️ https://t.co/PQdAqQco8Ppic.twitter.com/RXt0syRiDE

— Chase Matteson (@ChaseMatteson) March 1, 2026

The Trojans’ lead evaporated throughout the second half and they eventually lost 82-67 to Nebraska. It was their fifth loss in a row, one that a team on the March Madness bubble couldn’t afford.

USC coach Eric Musselman was questioned by reporters about Baker-Mazara’s absence during the postgame news conference.

“He said he couldn’t go,” Musselman bluntly retorted.

And in the locker room postgame, all of that frustration reportedly boiled over.

“People's emotions flared up,” former USC forward Terrance Williams II told USA TODAY Sports. “Trying to figure out what's going on. People want to win at the end of the day, you know. Coaches trying to figure it out, players trying to figure it out.”

According to Williams, Baker-Mazara reportedly called out some of his teammates. 

“Some people were one foot in, one foot out,” Williams said. “CB realized that, a lot of people on the team realized that. CB wasn’t the only one to speak up.”

Baker-Mazara told USA TODAY Sports he was unable to comment on the specifics of the locker room discussion due to pending litigation, but former USC guard Ryan Cornish confirmed Williams’ version of events. Multiple other teammates declined interview requests for this story.

According to Williams, the topics in that discussion included multiple players and coaches — while heated — never went beyond the normal emotions that come with playing the game. It was about some players being perceived as not giving it their all, personnel, game planning and the accumulation of losing one conference game after another in the most important stretch of the season.

“It was all healthy though,” Williams said. “It wasn’t nothing negative.”

So when Evan Brock, Baker-Mazara’s cousin and manager, got a call from David Mincberg — a consultant for the USC men’s basketball program — to inform them that Baker-Mazara had been dismissed from the team, it came as a shock to him. 

“I let my team down, let my boys down,” he said. “ … Felt like I let myself down, my family down, my whole country down, to be honest.”

Baker-Mazara told USA TODAY Sports he has still not heard from Musselman to this day. 

“It’s really hurtful,” he said. “Because I thought I had a strong enough relationship that we could just sit down and talk about anything. At least that’s what it was throughout the whole year. 

“… Me and him didn’t see eye to eye on everything but at the end of the day, I feel like we had a strong enough relationship, or nothing bad enough happened, to where I should’ve been dismissed from the team.”

Williams vouched for the relationship between the two.

“Muss and CB, they’re just two fiery personalities,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “You would think they’re clashing, but at the same time behind closed doors, I know Muss got CB’s back and I know CB got Muss’ back.”

Which made Musselman’s announcement to the team during a film session later that day all the more surprising to Williams.

“That’s our brother,” he said. “We were in this together at the end of the day. Like, we in this together. We had the summers together, the winters together, the end of the season. That’s our brother, so we were sad for him.”

Williams’ empathy was equally rooted in concern.

Baker-Mazara had already been branded as somewhat of a pariah throughout his college basketball career. He played at six schools in five years. In that time, he made headlines when he was dismissed from San Diego State for academic reasons in 2022, and, in 2024 with Auburn, he was ejected four minutes into their first-round NCAA Tournament game after throwing an elbow at Yale guard August Mahoney’s head.

“I already knew the reaction that was gonna happen because of who CB is,” he said. “Everybody got an opinion of who he is, but they don’t know him.”

Chad Baker Mazara's new chapter

The first thing a 17-year-old Baker-Mazara did when he got off the plane at Newark Airport in New Jersey after the roughly four-hour flight from his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was head straight to Foot Locker to buy a pair of Nike KDs. From there, he went over to Dick’s Sporting Goods, where he bought a basketball. He found a park a couple blocks down, got on the court and started shooting.

In an unfamiliar environment, Baker-Mazara turned to his place of peace.

“I’m here for a reason,” he reminded himself as the ball swished through the net. “... This is gonna plan out for something bigger and better.”

One week earlier, Baker-Mazara was burying his grandmother in Santo Domingo. His dad had casually mentioned the idea of moving to the United States a few times over the previous couple years but because of how sporadically it came up, Baker-Mazara never really paid much mind to it.

But on the day of the funeral, his dad dropped the news on him.

“Since it’s already this type of day, I might as well just tell you this. A week from today, you’re moving with your grandfather to New Jersey.”

“It was probably one of the worst days ever,” Baker-Mazara told USA TODAY Sports. “ ... You got a week to say bye to everything, everybody, and starting a new life.”

The Dominican Republic is known more for baseball than basketball. Even then, the first sport Baker-Mazara gravitated toward was soccer. He played goalkeeper because of his height, until his coach realized the position was not safe for his skill set. He tried to play defense, but found it too boring. 

By the time Baker-Mazara was in seventh grade, he was done with soccer and told his dad he wanted to hoop.

“He had a smile from here to here,” Baker-Mazara said as he pointed at each of his ears. “He never pushed basketball onto me. He always wanted me to play because it was part of the family, but he never really forced it onto me. He always supported me in my soccer career, but I could tell you that day, he was really, really excited.”

But even then, it would be years before Baker-Mazara realized he could go far in the sport. Not even after he moved to the US and led Colonia High School to back-to-back Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Final Four appearances and was named the 2018-19 Home News Tribune Boys Basketball Player of the Year. 

It wasn’t until his prep year at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, that it clicked for Baker-Mazara.

Playing against top-level competition — the Brewsters, the IMG academies — was a motivator. He particularly enjoyed guarding Kenyon Martin Jr., a three-star recruit who averaged 20 points per game in his prep year at IMG after winning back-to-back CIF Open Division championships at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California. By his own account, Baker-Mazara “did a pretty decent job with him.”

“That year made me realize I got a dog in me,” he said. “I can do this.”

The Inner Kid

Things came full-circle for Baker-Mazara when he arrived at USC in the summer of 2025. His first time visiting the U.S. as an 11-year-old, his aunt, who had recently graduated, showed him around campus. There’s a picture somewhere in the family archives of him on the steps of Galen Center, beaming with his trademark smile.

“Being able to put that jersey on, that was the inner kid in me that really wanted to do that,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “That was a proud moment for me.”

That inner kid showed through to his teammates with the energy he approached them with. He would celebrate with pride every time he got a stop on defense in practice. If he caused a shot clock violation, he would scream.

“It’s summer workouts,” Williams said. “And he’s showing energetic energy and things like that when he doesn’t really have to.”

He hypes his teammates up during timeouts. Gives them words of encouragement on the sideline. He even offered Ezra Ausar, who he had just met, a place to stay at his apartment while he figured out his housing situation that summer.

“He’s a brother’s keeper,” Ausar said. “For sure.”

“Everything that I do is with emotion. Passion in life. That’s how I am,” Baker-Mazara said. “I feel like that has something to do with Dominicans, too. We do things with a lot of passion.”

But that passion can have its pitfalls, too. Especially for the uninitiated.

Williams noted Baker-Mazara sometimes butted heads with other players he thought were being lazy, selfish or not giving it their all and would confront them, but he always perceived it as a healthy conversation.

“He cares about winning, he wants to get better,” Williams said. “He wants to be at the highest level. Some people could take that as wrong but at the end of the day, he just wants to win.”

As the season wore on and the losses piled up, however, “Chad being Chad” reportedly started to wear thin. Williams told USA TODAY Sports he noticed the coaching staff start to grow tired of Baker-Mazara's big personality. 

His energy, his willingness to call people out, was becoming a distraction.

“Some of the coaches, they were kind of just fed up,” Williams said. “ … I guess they just thought he was in the way. That’s just my opinion on it.”

The Trojans dropped their final two games of the season without Baker-Mazara and were eliminated in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in an overtime loss.

Not being able to finish what he started was something that ate at Baker-Mazara. Despite the hurt that came with that, and knowing how it all ended, he wouldn’t change anything about how he handled himself because he views it as an overall learning experience.

“See other people’s perspectives other than mine,” Baker-Mazara said. “And just being able to be with people, be around people and handle people.”

Growth and NBA Draft hopes

Every day before his training session, Baker-Mazara puts on some music. Usually alternative or any one of Bad Bunny, Rod Wave, Drake, Kanye West or Route 94. Anything that can help calm his mind and slow things down as he begins to meditate.

He’ll pray and visualize the future he wants for himself. Right now, that’s achieving his dream of playing in the NBA and becoming just the 15th player with Dominican roots to play at the highest level.

Meditation helps Baker-Mazara focus on the things that he can control.

“Basketball comes with a lot of ups and downs,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “And having that time to reflect, pray, and visualize my goals helps me stay grounded. It gives me clarity, keeps me motivated, and reminds me why I’m working so hard every day.”

He’s preparing for the NBA Draft with Stanley Remy, a renowned development trainer who has worked with Dwyane Wade, Jeff Green and Andre Drummond, among others. Baker-Mazara’s draft odds are slim; multiple NBA scouts declined to comment to USA TODAY Sports, but with his history of jumping around programs and question marks about his exits from each of them, combined with his age (26), he doesn’t seem to be a priority for NBA front offices.

NBADraftRoom.com projects him as a possible second-round pick due to his long, wiry frame and quick hands and feet that help him be a constant presence on both ends of the floor.

“Isn’t on many draft boards but has a chance to make it in the league,” his scouting report on the website reads. “Underrated.”

It’s been a whirlwind three months for Baker-Mazara since his exit from USC. A whirlwind six years, really. While it’s a growing process, he emphasized his desire to stay true to who he is. Whatever the future holds — NBA or not — all he wants is to be the best version of himself off the court.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chad Baker-Mazara opens up about bizarre exit from USC basketball

The New York Knicks' NBA Finals Game 4 comeback victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden left fans around the Big Apple in a festive, party mood.

New York's 107-106 victory Wednesday, June 10, brought them a step closer to their first NBA title since 1973 and some fans one step closer to felony charges.

According to the NYPD, across multiple locations around the city, 56 people were taken into custody, 15 were arrested, and 41 were released with criminal court summonses. Some of the charges included assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon (knife), reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, and trademark counterfeiting.

Ten members of the NYPD were injured, including one member of the NYPD who was hit in the head with a glass bottle.

As the game ended, crowds in the thousands started to descend on Madison Square Garden to continue to celebrate the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

"This is an exciting time for the Knicks and for fans across New York City. The NYPD wants New Yorkers to be able to enjoy these celebrations, but our primary responsibility is to ensure that everyone can do so safely," the NYPD said in a statement. "Once again, there were large crowds of people who engaged in incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior last night both during and after the game. This demonstrates exactly why the NYPD has increased our presence in and around Madison Square Garden."

There was a point of contention between the city and Knicks owner James Dolan about the security of the watch parties, which were canceled at the 11th hour before Game 4 after they had been advertised across social media.

It is not known if there will be watch parties for Game 5, which will take place on Saturday night in San Antonio. Should the Spurs prevail, Game 6 would be at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, June 16.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NYPD arrests 15 following Knicks' Game 4 comeback win vs Spurs

Coming off the court following the greatest win in New York Knicks history, guard Jalen Brunson had something even more important on his mind at his NBA Finals postgame news conference.

Brunson wanted to make an opening statement before taking questions – and it wasn't about the historic 29-point comeback for a thrilling 107-106 win in Game 4 over the San Antonio Spurs.

"I just wanted to say before we start … my thoughts and prayers are with a friend of mine I got to meet and talk to last week, Jonathan from North Carolina, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Garden of Dreams Foundation," Brunson said, referring to a boy suffering from a serious heart condition.

The foundations had asked Brunson to record a video for the young fan, but he wanted to do more.

"Something in my mind told me just to try and get him on FaceTime and get to chat with him. I got the pleasure to do so. It was a quick call but it was all worth it."

Jalen Brunson post Game 4: "Before we start…

My thoughts & prayers are with a friend of mine I got to meet last week. Jonathan from North Carolina. From Make a Wish Foundation

They asked me to make a video. But something told me to Facetime…

I got the pleasure to do… pic.twitter.com/LB6zjUBWVa

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 11, 2026

Brunson said he just heard some unfortunate news about the boy's condition.

"My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family … May God rest his soul."

Brunson then started taking questions from the media about the game, but he did need a moment to compose himself before getting back to his postgame obligations.

Brunson led all scorers with 36 points as the Knicks erased a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to go up three games to one in the series, and put them one win away from the franchise's first NBA title since 1973.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Knicks' Jalen Brunson pays tribute to young fan after emotional Game 4

The Knicks pulled off the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history, clawing back from 29 down in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Here’s how they did it...

The first half was some of the worst basketball the team’s played in recent history. A quick two fouls on Karl-Anthony Towns immediately deflated the arena as the Spurs got out to a 12-2 lead. 

New York’s offense was slow out of the gates. Meanwhile, San Antonio couldn’t miss from three. They drove, kicked, filled lanes in transition, and hit a number of tough contested looks en route to a massive 41-point first quarter.

The Knicks didn’t convert a field goal from 4:40 in the first until the start of the second, falling behind by 20 points early. The second quarter was much of the same, as the Spurs kept burying three after three while Jalen Brunson started converting to try and keep up.

There was a clear lack of focus, especially on the defensive end. New York would enter halfcourt possessions unsure of who to match up with and scrambling to recover, even getting beat down the court on makes.

Silly turnovers plagued them once again on the other end. 

Towns only got five minutes of burn before picking up his third foul.

Things wouldn’t improve when Victor Wembanyama took the bench -- something that usually offers the Knicks some reprieve. Dylan Harper went off for 13 points in the second quarter as San Antonio built its largest lead at 71-42.

They’d go into the half up 27 points, the largest for a road Finals team in history, having scored 76 points, another road Finals record. Their 14 made three-pointers in the first 24 minutes was an NBA record. 

Many asked what, if anything, happened at the half to spark a turnaround. After the game, head coach Mike Brown said he merely wanted his team to play fast and loose, allowing the locker room to then strategize among themselves. 

It wouldn’t have been enough, if the Spurs didn’t allow themselves to melt down in tandem. Wembanyama threw a flagrant elbow early in the third quarter that gave the Knicks free throws and put him on his heels physically. 

The three-pointers stopped falling, and San Antonio got lazier with their looks, settling for one-pass, semi-contested attempts and giving New York transition opportunities. A 13-0 Knicks run, backed by threes from Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart put the game within 16, or standard comeback range for this squad. 

New York’s defense took the biggest step, forcing multiple turnovers after San Antonio had just two in the first half. They sharpened up the mistakes, closed out more aggressively, and secured timely rebounds.

Brown made an early sub for Jose Alvarado, which would turn out to be a game-changer. The diminutive, frisky guard has provided a positive jolt of ball-handling all series, and played nearly the entire of the fourth quarter alongside Brunson.

This eased some of the ball-handling pressure on Brunson, and gave the Knicks another guy who could break down the tight Spurs defense to create advantages. Their vaunted Defensive Player of the Year barely rested in the second half, and the wear began to show.

Slowly, the Knicks chipped further into the lead as the fourth quarter unfolded. The Spurs had responses, but they were all a point or play short.

A flailing Towns step-back three made it a 12-point game with 7:30 to play, the Spurs hit two free throws, then Anunoby followed up with a three. Brunson started percolating to cut the lead to single digits halfway through the period as the pressure and crowd began weighing on the young Spurs.

A Brunson drive cut the lead to seven, then another Anunoby trey made it a four-point game. His seven makes from deep were the third-most in Finals history, and the Knicks needed every single one.

De’Aaron Fox responded in kind, but Alvarado of all options came up huge with back-to-back buckets. He spun in for a lay-up and splashed a catch-and-shoot three in response to a clutch bucket from Wembanyama, keeping the game within two possessions.

With two minutes to play, Brunson proved himself a clutch savant once again, walking down Wembanyama for a pull-up three, then driving in for a score to give the Knicks their first lead of the game.

A foul on a Stephon Castle offensive rebound gave him two free throws with 30 seconds to play, and San Antonio went back ahead. Brunson tried another layup, missed, and the ball rolled out to Fox, who stormed up court with no shot clock and nobody in front.

He forgot about who might have been trailing him. Instead of dribbling the ball out, he went up for a lay-in, only to get blocked by Anunoby tracking him down.

The Knicks recovered it and Alvarado was fouled by Fox at halfcourt with five seconds to go. The Spurs didn’t put a man on the inbounder, Anunoby, as Wembanyama switched out onto Brunson for the catch.

Fox came over for the double as Brunson lifted up for a deep three. Meanwhile, Anunoby raced down the middle as the ball clanged off the front rim.

With Wembanyama and Fox recovering from the contest and three Spurs boxing out the other Knicks, Anunoby skied over everyone for the miraculous tip-in with 1.2 seconds to play. 

San Antonio ran a decoy play for Wembanyama that freed Castle for a potential game-winning oop, but Brown had Towns on the inbounder Harper, and his deflection softened the pass.

Castle tried to recover but was walled up by Hart, as the buzzer rang and Madison Square Garden erupted into pandemonium.

One team made good decisions and caught a stroke of luck, the other made a litany of bad choices, and now New York heads to San Antonio one win away from history.

Ben Stiller’s first instinct was to call the Knicks’ historic NBA Finals comeback on Wednesday night unbelievable.

But the celebrity superfan caught himself. Because he can believe it, as he’s has a front-row seat to an entire Knicks playoff run in which they have proved their resilience and grittiness time and time again.

So while a 29-point comeback and OG Anunoby’s all-timer of a putback with 1.2 seconds left to put the Knicks one win away from ending their 53-year championship drought seems unfathomable to many, it isn’t to the 60-year-old actor.

HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE

OG ANUNOBY WITH THE CLUTCH PUTBACK FOR THE WIN! pic.twitter.com/2Io1w2Lw40

— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2026

“What a team, what a team. Come on,” Stiller told CBS New York after the Knicks took a 3-1 series lead over the Spurs. “I can’t believe — I mean, I do believe it because this team…”

Stiller then trailed off, still in euphoria after the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

“Most insane comeback I’ve ever seen,” concluded Stiller, who is filming an HBO documentary on his phone during the Finals, per Page Six.

Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, were among a litany of celebrities at MSG on Wednesday who went from completely deflated at halftime to manic celebration.

There were the usuals like Spike Lee, Fat Joe, Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Mariska Hargitay, loyalists like Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, and pop-ins like Taylor Swift and Hailey Bieber.

For some of them, they’ve been waiting for this moment for most, if not all, of their lives. Stiller was among the celebs at MSG for the Knicks’ last Finals appearance in 1999 — also against the Spurs — along with Lee, Rock and Sandler.

Stiller told The Post’s Stefan Bondy on Sunday that he has dealt with “a lot of pain” as a Knicks fan since their last title in 1973.

“My whole life I’ve lived with this idea that, ‘Oh, the Knicks aren’t going to make it, the Knicks have never been good, the Knicks have been a joke for a long time back in the day,’ ” Stiller told The Post when the Knicks led 2-0 in the series. “It almost became something you accept.”

When the Rangers ended their 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994, the voice of the team, Sam Rosen, famously said “this one will last a lifetime.”

One more win, and the same will be true for the Knicks.

Taylor Swift and Kylie Jenner hugged it out after the Knicks’ historic comeback over the Spurs in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals.

The 14-time Grammy winner reached out for the embrace as she and the Hulu star were in disbelief during celebrations on the court post game at Madison Square Garden, as seen in videos online.

“That was crazy,” said Jenner, who attended the game with her boyfriend, actor Timothee Chalamet, a New York native and a diehard Knicks fan.

| Taylor Swift & Kylie Jenner hugging at the Knicks game!pic.twitter.com/JH9SPHXyoN

— The Swift Society (@TheSwiftSociety) June 11, 2026

Swift, who owns multiple properties in New York, was all smiles while agreeing with Jenner.

Some fans were surprised by the interaction after Jenner’s sister, Kim Kardashian, and Swift were involved in a public feud in 2016 over the infamous phone call during which Kardashian’s then-husband, Kanye West discussed his song “Famous” with Swift.

Swift denied that she had consented to a lyric — “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous” — and she was called a “liar” and a “snake” in the public eye.

Her 2024 song,“thanK you aIMee” is an apparent diss track about the situation.

It was a brief interaction between Swift and Jenner, but a friendly one in the star-studded crowd.

In another on-court video, Chalamet declared “Knicks in 5” after his hometown team pulled off a historic comeback to beat the Spurs 107-106 in a Game 4 nail-biter.

A go-ahead tip-in by Knicks forward OG Anunoby with 2.1 seconds remaining secured the victory after New York rallied back from down by 29 in the second half.

The Knicks could close out the series in Game 5 in San Antonio on Saturday to clinch their first championship in 53 years.