Exclusive | Long Island bishop using Knicks NBA Finals run to convince long-suffering fans there is a God

He has Knicks fans believing they can go all the way — to heaven.A Long Island bishop who used to play college hoops is using his beloved Knicks and their biblical 13-game postseason winning streak to get New Yorkers closer to God.“Like Peter, James, and John were called from fishing nets, I was called from basketball nets,” Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre told The Post near the altar of St.Agnes Cathedral.“New York Knicks, 2026, we’re so grateful to you,” he said, “For the wonderful way you’ve turned Madison Square Garden again to just a magical place, and brought so many New Yorkers together.” The former point guard for Princeton University’s JV team in the late 1970s had his spiritual outlook shaped by both his play and the two-time title-winning Knicks of the era — especially “unselfishness” from fellow Tiger forward Bill Bradley. “They formed me in so many ways,” Barres said of watching the 1970 and 1973 NBA champs as a boy.There are few more jovial than Barres that half a century of agony in the garden may finally end with the Knicks currently up 2-0 over the Spurs in the NBA Finals. Barres is exemplifying their long-awaited title run by teaching Long Island’s 1,000 newly confirmed Catholics and others to “step up” their starting roles as “humble, compassionate” lights of Christ. “I use the example of Jalen Brunson stepping up with his three pointers — his management of the floor, the wonderful way he passes, the wonderful way he drives to the basket, the wonderful way he reads the other team,” he said.“I’m mesmerized by Jalen — just watching him, his unselfishness, and just how he does what he does.”Westchester-born Barres, who, like Brunson, wore No.

11, has remained deeply rooted in Catholicism’s connection to sports — especially at the youth level on LI — ever since his playing days. He even hands out priest cards showing him making a layup at the Ivy League school’s ...