Knicks eye first title in 53 years as New Yorkers flood San Antonio with reeling Spurs hoping to recover after historic collapse
San Antonio’s famed maxim ‘Remember the Alamo’ was drowned out by chants of ‘Knicks in five!’ as a sea of New Yorkers flooded Frost Bank Center for Saturday’s pivotal NBA Finals matchup.
After blowing a 29-point lead in their historic Game 4 collapse at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, the Spurs and superstar Victor Wembanyama face elimination trailing 3-1.
Despite this, Spurs fans aren’t counting themselves out, even if they’re nearly outnumbered in their own building.
Among the team’s slogans is the phrase ‘Por Vida.’ Translated, it means ‘For Life.’ Generations of fans in San Antonio have held those words dear through the eras led by George Gervin to David Robinson to Tim Duncan to, now, Wembanyama. And even now, with the Knicks on the brink of winning this championship, the words ring true among Spurs fans.
Thing is, there is a copious amount of New York blue and orange in the building.
There are some fans who sold their tickets on secondary markets for Game 5. It’s unclear how many, but with prices topping $1,500 apiece in the highest rows and reaching $5,000 or more in the lower level – big money for sure, yet a sliver of what Knicks fans paid for Games 3 and 4 – it’s easy to see why some ticketholders are making business decisions instead of basketball ones.
Victor Wembanyama is seen at the free throw line with Jalen Brunson standing behind him
Devin Vassell dribbles against Jalen Brunson during the first quarter on Saturday
Knicks fan Timothée Chalamet was among the New Yorkers in San Antonio on Saturday
It is not a frontrunning fan base in San Antonio. The city celebrated five NBA championships and had a record-setting run of 22 straight postseason appearances under Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, but Spurs fans also suffered for decades.
There was the heartbreak of blowing a 3-1 lead to the then-Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference finals. Mention Derek Fisher’s game-winning jumper with 0.4 seconds in Game 5 that helped the Los Angeles Lakers win the 2004 NBA Western Conference semifinals at your own peril in this city; it’ll go over as well as saying, ‘I dislike cowboy hats.’ And the pain of Wednesday night has not subsided either, after the Spurs blew a 29-point lead in losing 107-106 to the Knicks in Game 4.
The Spurs are the only major pro team in town. There’s no Yankees, no Mets, no Nets, no Rangers, no Islanders, no Devils, no Liberty, no NYCFC, no Red Bulls here. The Spurs are San Antonio’s everything.
‘They’re still there for us,’ said Rene Gonzalez, still proudly flying a Spurs car flag on his truck. ‘They still bring this community together.’
Those who think trailing 3-1 in the NBA Finals is going to darken the spirits of Spurs fans might get a two-word answer in San Antonio.
¿Estas loco?
You’re crazy.
‘All year these boys have proven everyone wrong,’ said Raylyn Boyson, a member of the Spurs superfan group, The Jackals, a group born from an idea by Wembanyama to have San Antonio fans mimic what happens at games in his native Europe. ‘There’s no reason why we shouldn’t keep believing. If anyone is going to defy all odds, it’s this group.’
