Scenes from a jubilant night at Knicks watch party as excited fans watch team keep season alive
All across the city, on a beautiful cool night inside Central Park, not quite within ear shot of the desperate roars inside the Garden, where the Knicks were making their Game 5 stand against the Pacers, inside bars and restaurants everywhere, inside anxiety-ridden hearts and minds, all the Watch Parties had turned into houses of prayer, asking for divine intervention from the basketball gods to keep alive the hopes and dreams of the championship-starved faithful.
Every single one of these springtime playoff joy rides had ended prematurely and/or unceremoniously since 1973, when Clyde Frazier and Captain Willis Reed became two-time NBA champions and reminded the ones lucky enough to experience it why basketball is The City Game.
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But on this night inside Central Park, a night when the city's basketball back was against the wall, it did not end in despair. It did not end with Knicks fans crying in their beer.
It ended in jubilation and plans for one more Watch Party on Saturday night, and maybe one more after that, at least.
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