‘We did it’: Knicks finally win NBA title

As someone who first remembers watching the New York Knicks when the late Michael Ray Richardson played guard for the team in the early 1980s, Saturday night, June 13, was simply, like for so many others, my best moment as a Knicks fan.

When OG Anunoby threw the ball high up in the air as time ran out in the Knicks' 94-90 victory at San Antonio that clinched the team's first National Basketball Association title in 53 years, I jumped up and screamed at my television, "We did it."

Those are words I've waited my entire life to say, but never thought I'd say them after all the heartbreak I've endured rooting for the team that plays its home games in "The World's Most Famous Arena," Madison Square Garden.

Forward Bernard King, whom Golden State traded to the Knicks for Richardson, was my first favorite Knick, and he was "Buckets" long before the word became a thing.

Shortly thereafter came my favorite all-time Knick, center Patrick Ewing, whom the Knicks acquired after winning the first NBA draft lottery in May 1985.

Thanks to Judy Kaplan, who was the adviser for Mercury, the school newspaper at Peekskill High School, I got to attend my first two NBA games as a freshman in a preseason doubleheader at the Garden. 

The first game was Washington vs. San Antonio. The second, I got to see Ewing play in his first home game as a Knick against Houston and its own star center, Akeem Olajuwon. The Rockets won 91-83.  

To say I was excited would be the understatement of the century. It was a dream come true to have the opportunity to watch my favorite team play and see Ewing, the player who came to New York amid tremendous hype after his legendary career at Georgetown University, go against Olajuwon. 

I was one of 275 high school sports editors who were invited to the night's action, which included a question-and-answer session at the Felt Forum with Knicks general manager and Hall of Famer Dave DeBusschere, who played on the Knicks' 1970 and 1973 NBA championship teams, assistant coach Bob Hill and forward Butch Carter.

Many thought the Knicks would win numerous championships with Ewing, and while he became a Hall of Famer and had his No. 33 retired by the team in a ceremony in 2003 that I was fortunate to attend, the championships unfortunately never came.

There was a lot of hope that Ewing would get one in the 1990s when the Knicks hired coach Pat Riley, who had won four NBA titles in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Lakers. The first season with Ewing and Riley together was 1991-92.

I saw many games that season during my junior year at St. John's University, where I was a student manager for my favorite college basketball coach of all time, Hall of Famer Lou Carnesecca. St. John's plays many of its home games at MSG.

Needless to say, that was another dream come true! 

What will shock anyone reading this is the price I paid for six of those games, all playoff games — three against the Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons and the other three against the Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, whom many, including me, consider the GOAT.

I saw all six of those games for a total of $102, or $17 per game, sitting in Section 414. One can only imagine what a playoff game against Jordan would cost today.

The Ewing-Riley partnership unfortunately never produced a title after four seasons, and to this day I waited until my current favorite Knick, Jalen Brunson, came through with a game for the ages. His 45 points in Game 5 against the Spurs helped the Knicks win their first NBA title since 1973 and end the heartbreak of its forever faithful fan base.