Knicks fan braved 12-hour flight delays, psychotic Spurs fans but it was worth it to see NY win it all

Seeing the New York Knicks become world champions for the first time since 1973 with my own eyes was easily the most chaotic 24 hours of my life — and perhaps the best.The drama absolutely wasn’t limited to the San Antonio Spurs hardwood as New York’s orange and blue heroes pulled away in the dying seconds to win Game 5, 94-90 in an explosive 16-point comeback.Diehards who made the last-minute trip to Texas endured travel nightmares — and a share of distasteful fans who didn’t quite extend southern hospitality after the loss.Bad actors behaved in a deplorable manner, just as pseudo-Knicks fans did terrible things in NYC to Spurs faithful.I saw a lunatic in a white pickup truck laugh and point a gun at two Knicks fans minding their own business waiting to cross a street — and other New Yorkers told me they got egged like Victor Wembanyama during the finals while in Manhattan, among more stupidity over a damn game. What did the group do? They sprayed a bottle of champagne and smoked cigars on the San Antonio Riverwalk as if nothing had happened. The duo briefly held at what the driver thought was a humorous little gunpoint incident shook it off right after too.

Some true and good-hearted Spurs fans — like the vast majority Saturday were — even waited with them until their car arrived.No New Yorker cared about the nonsense, which plenty back in the Big Apple were equally, if not more, guilty of that night.The Knicks were finally kings of the NBA again.That’s what I’ll remember about my impromptu and haphazardly planned trip, one that cost a pretty penny but was still a discount compared to a good seat at Madison Square Garden.I don’t care about the 4 a.m.

wakeup call and early bird flight to Dallas Saturday, where a good friend of mine drove us the next four hours down I-35 to the greatest live game either of us ever witnessed. We stopped at a Buc-ees 146 miles north in Temple and saw several other Knicks fans en route to the Doobie Brothers�...