Shlomo, 25, from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who declined to give his last name, told JNS that rooting for the Knicks provides the same sense of belonging he finds within the Jewish community.
“When I was growing up I would spend months trying to get good marks on my tests, behaving, being respectful, helping with house chores, just to convince my parents to take me to one Knicks game at Madison Square Garden,” he said.
“When it comes to being a Knicks fan, there’s a real sense of brotherhood,” he told JNS. “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. We’re all there for the same reason.”
“It’s always nice to be part of a group, rooting for something together and feeling that sense of belonging,” he said. “The Knicks definitely bring that out in New Yorkers and Knicks fans everywhere.”
The fan spoke to JNS hours before the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
The team has not won a championship since defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in 1973.
Though Shlomo will be able to watch Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, he told JNS that he would likely ask people on the streets of his Brooklyn neighborhood for updates on the score of Game 2, which falls on Friday night.
“If there is anyone out there who sees a Jew on Friday night or even the day after asking about the Knicks, make sure you do your service and you give them the update,” he told JNS.
Shlomo is one of many Orthodox Jewish Knicks fans in New York who will turn off their televisions for the long-awaited games scheduled during Shabbat.
Game 2—and Game 7, if necessary—are both scheduled for Friday night. Game 5 is set to begin at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, about an hour before Shabbat ends on June 13.
“We would love to watch every game our teams play on Shabbos or Yom Tov,” Zach F., 49, of Brooklyn, told JNS. “However, it is not realistic, and actually unfair, to hold others to our religious standards and to be upset that we will miss a game.”
“Personally, I wear it as a badge of pride that even though I love my teams and follow them through thick and thin, I can show my dedication to Judaism and refrain from watching the game to keep Shabbos,” the long-time Knicks fan said.
“That being said, I will likely find out the scores through neighbors or alerts on my Alexa or the like,” he told JNS.
The Knicks’ Finals appearance has created some unlikely points of agreement among New Yorkers.
Shlomo told JNS that it has even allowed him to find common ground with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has said that he would have the Israeli prime minister arrested in New York City and whose spokeswoman said that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events.
“I don’t want to give any flowers to the current mayor, but he happens to be a huge Knicks fan,” Shlomo said. “He even went ahead and made a bill that kids can stay up past curfew to watch the finals this year.”
“I can’t say I agree with everything Mayor Mamdani has to say but I finally, finally, I found something I can be on the same page with as the mayor,” he said.
Yossi Davidoff, 35, owner of the glatt kosher restaurant and sports bar BHI Thursdays in Brooklyn, told JNS that the establishment will host watch parties throughout the NBA Finals.
Knicks games often draw large crowds from across New York’s Jewish community, he said.
“What I’ve seen from other games, whether it’s the Super Bowl or something else, is so many different kinds of Jews coming together,” he said.
“You’ll see Jews from so many different backgrounds being united and enjoying themselves, cheering and celebrating together,” Davidoff told JNS. “These are people you probably wouldn’t catch hanging out or socializing with one another otherwise.”
For a few hours, he said, differences within the Jewish community seem to disappear.
“You’ll have people from Borough Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush, Queens and Great Neck—from Chassidim to the most secular possible Jews—just for those couple of hours on the same page, all celebrating, all united, all showing love to each other,” he said. “It’s really an amazing experience.”
Mayer Walden, 19, from Monsey, told JNS that he has been a die-hard Knicks fan since he was “in diapers.”
That he will have miss some of the games is “terrible,” he said.
“I’ve been there through the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs, and the one year they finally make it to the Finals, there are two games we can’t watch because of Shabbos,” he said. “It’s very frustrating.”
Walden told JNS that a lot of his friends are similarly disappointed.
“If the series does go to Game 7, we might go to a hotel that’s showing it and sit in the lobby to watch,” he said. “I guess that would be the alternative.”
Chizkiyahu Price, 24, from Marine Park in Brooklyn, NY told JNS that he plans to watch Game 5 as soon as the Shabbat ends on Saturday night.
“I don’t really have a problem with starting to watch a game near the end of the second quarter or even at halftime,” he said. “Basketball is one of those sports where the first half usually doesn’t dictate what’s going to happen.”
“There are so many points being scored that it’s easy to pick up the game in the second half and still feel engaged,” Price said.
“For Game 2, I’ll actually be in yeshiva, which is next door to a pizza shop, and there are people coming in and out all the time,” he said. “At some point, I’ll probably just ask somebody for the score.”
Even the most ardent Knicks fans at his Brooklyn-based yeshiva are largely unfazed by the timing of the games, according to Price.
“Even outside of these games being scheduled on Shabbos, a lot of guys in yeshiva aren’t watching every game,” he told JNS.
“During night seder,” or evening study, “even big fans might listen on the radio or catch the end of a game, but they’re not necessarily watching the whole thing,” he said. “Most yeshiva guys don’t have the free time all night to sit on the couch from 7 p.m. and watch a game for three hours.”
“A lot of guys don’t even have TVs,” he told JNS.
