Fat Joe, Spike Lee and More React to Knicks’ First NBA Finals Appearance Since 1999
After a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, New York is playing for the NBA Championship.
Spike Lee attends Game Four of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks at Rocket Arena on May 25, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images.
The New York Knicks are going to the big show! The Knicks took down the Cleveland Cavaliers 130 - 93 on Monday night, winning the Eastern Conference Finals in a four-game sweep and punching their ticket to the 2026 NBA Finals. From Fat Joe to Spike Lee, famous New Yorkers were online championing the blue and orange Knickerbockers.
This marks the Knicks’ first appearance in the NBA Finals in 27 years. The franchise last won a championship in 1973 with Hall of Famers like Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, WIllis Reed and Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and they made two Finals appearances during Patrick Ewing era of the 1990s: once in 1994, when they lost to the Houston Rockets; and again in 1999, which saw them fall to the San Antonio Spurs.
And now fans are looking forward to making some new history. The Knicks will play the winner of the Spurs/Oklahoma City Thunder series. After the Knicks big win, several notables took to social media to sure their euphoria at the home team’s accomplishment.
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