The Red Sea parted for Moses, but the swarm of bodies dressed in blue and orange outside Manny Janeth Cafe in NYC’s Lower East Side only barely opened a path for rapper A$AP Rocky and his entourage to sneak inside. Everyone, Rocky included, had come out to watch the Knicks play Game 2 of the NBA Finals this past Friday. While GQ’s social media director and I strategized how we might also elbow through this mob of Knicks fans holding broomsticks, blunts, and beers in the middle of the street, a guy in a Realtree-patterned tank top and a pile of pearl necklaces caught our attention.
Holding a stack of clear plastic cups in his right hand and a handle of Tito’s in his left, he handed out cups of vodka to those gathered, attributing this act of partying generosity to A$AP Rocky. When we approached him, he grabbed the microphone, introduced himself as Thxto, and instructed us to turn our flash on. Then Thxto barrelled through a forest thick with sweat and smoke, shouting, “Let’s go Knicks!” After a few seconds of negotiation, he presented Flacko himself, who was wearing a white Prada polo, a mint cable-knit sweater over his shoulders, and a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers (in place of his slutty little reading glasses).
“I’m from New York, sweetheart. I ain’t no Knicks fan, I am a Knick,” Rocky said as he burst into cackles, vodka cup in hand—courtesy of Thxto, no doubt. “It’s fire. Look, everybody came outside, we’re having fun. I’m happy to be here. Shout out to the New York Knicks.”
For a city that tries to play it cool at all times, New York is vibrating at a high frequency right now. Just after Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs, only two days prior, the fever blew away anything I’d seen in my near-decade of living in Manhattan. Conversations and outfits now seem to bend toward the Knicks from all angles. New Yorkers who otherwise have little in common suddenly find themselves sharing a common language. Never mind that most couldn’t have named the Knicks starting five just a couple weeks ago (and maybe still can’t). They were all riding the wave of 12 straight wins — now 13, after Friday’s victory — from a team that no one expected to be here.
Ground zero unsurprisingly has been Madison Square Garden, which hosted watch parties for Games 1 and 2 of the Finals, both played in San Antonio. Tickets for the watch parties sold out within the hour, so New Yorkers took to the streets. On Wednesday, there seemed to be as many people outside the Garden as inside. Passersby lined up to snap a photo with Niko Knickerbocker, an unofficial mascot of the Knicks dressed up in a blue suit, orange-knee high socks, and a giant foam head with a dead-eyed grin and a pageboy cap.
When asked for an interview, Mr. Knickerbocker told me through his foam head, and in a decadently thick New York accent, that he’s unable to provide quotes, only gestures. Girls walked by in I ❤︎ NY shirts, except the heart had been replaced by a photo of Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson. A pair of young men decked out in carrot orange told me that Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet are their favorite Knicks fans.
