Latest news with #RoommatesShow
New York Post
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Jalen Brunson look-alike contest draws diehard Knicks fans to compete for Game 5 tickets – and Josh Hart helped pick winner
Knicks fever keeps spreading. More than a dozen fans competed in a Jalen Brunson look-alike contest in Manhattan Monday, where the first-place winner — a near spitting image of the clutch point guard — was gifted tickets to New York's next home playoff game set for later this week. The doppelganger event took place across the street from Madison Square Garden and even had a brief appearance from Brunson's teammate, Josh Hart, who helped pick the winner over FaceTime, a day after New York beat the Pacers and cut Indiana's series lead to 2-1 games. Advertisement 6 Knicks fan Zachary Davidson won a Jalen Brunson look-alike contest in Manhattan on May 26, 2025. Melanie Marich 6 Davidson was one of 15 Brunson doppelganger that entered the contest to win tickets to the next Knicks home playoff game at Madison Square Garden. Melanie Marich Most of the 15 participants and one adorable pup were decked out in Brunson's jerseys, but it was lifelong Knicks fan Zachary Davidson who had the closest resemblance to the all-star point guard. Advertisement Davidson told The Post that since Brunson came over from the Dallas Mavericks in 2022, passersby on Big Apple streets constantly compare him to the player. 'I get stopped on the street every five seconds telling me I look like Jalen,' he said. 'I had 100 [direct messages on social media] telling me I look like Jalen, so you know I had to show up.' The contest was hosted by Last Take Show, an online sports comedy show, and sponsored by the sports betting app Novig. 6 Davidson said he has been stopped in the street by people who think he is the Knicks star. Melanie Marich Advertisement 6 The contest was held by the sports comedy show Last Take Show. Melanie Marich Matt Hillman, who is known as Matty Ice and hosts the Roommates Show with Brunson and Hart, was on hand and dialed in Hart to help pick the winner among the remaining three contestants in the final round. Davidson's prize for his uncanny likeness to Brunson was a pair of tickets to Game 5 at the Garden Thursday night, which are currently going for no less than $600 on the secondary market. It'll be his first game at MSG, and he plans on bringing his pal. Advertisement 6 A fan entered her dog in the Brunson look-alike contest. Melanie Marich 'I'm feeling confident, coming off [the Game 3] win, I think we're gonna do well,' Davison said. 'And you gotta keep the faith, gotta keep hope alive.' Another competitor told The Post he's ready to see the Knicks even up the series Tuesday night on the road. 6 Brunson and the Knicks are set to playing the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals tomorrow knight. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post 'Knicks in six,' said Jeff, who only gave his first name. 'Defense finally showed up late last night and that's gonna continue on, I think.' New York takes on the Pacers for Game 4 – and a chance to knot the series up – Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NBA Semis Could Boost Stars' Lagging Social Media Presences
The 2025 NBA conference finalists—the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers—are an atypical group of contenders. Only one (the Thunder) is a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and none have won an NBA championship since the 1970s. They also have stars still in the process of building their profile. None of the 25 most-followed active NBA players on Instagram are on a team still in the postseason. Kyrie Irving (No. 4), Luka Dončić (No. 11) and Jayson Tatum (No. 19) all advanced this deep last season, and later rounds in the 2010s always featured mega-superstars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. This year, the most-followed star left in the final four is the Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards, whose 4.8 million followers rank 27th in the NBA. Right behind him are the Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns (4.3 million) and the Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (4.1 million), but nobody else in the league's top 50 will take the court for the rest of this season. It's not for a lack of trying, either, as Gilgeous-Alexander has carefully curated a feed to match his personality. Alex Caruso, who started three games this year for Oklahoma City, has the fourth-most followers among players in the conference semifinals (1.3 million). Minnesota rookie Rob Dillingham, who hasn't played a minute in the playoffs so far, has the sixth-most. But making the conference finals will have a major impact on players' social media brands. In the 24 hours before his Game 1 against the Timberwolves, Gilgeous-Alexander gained more than 20,000 followers, the highest mark in the NBA. Eight of the top nine 24-hour gainers are still active in the postseason, with the exception being Tatum, who was recently eliminated. Advertisement More from The stars still alive in the playoffs are far from no-names, even as they search for broader reach. Social media following is just one indicator of marketability. Among the NBA's best-selling jerseys this season, Jalen Brunson ranked No. 5, Edwards ranked No. 7 and Gilgeous-Alexander ranked No. 9. Brunson also co-hosts a podcast with his Knicks teammates called the Roommates Show that boasts more than 200,000 Instagram followers of its own. Edwards and Gilgeous-Alexander earned $20 million and $18 million, respectively, off the court in 2024, ranking fifth and sixth among NBA players on Sportico's highest-paid athletes list. Advertisement The lack of Instagram stars remaining in the playoffs is, more than anything, a testament to the youth of the teams that won out in the early rounds. Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton is just 25 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander is 26, Edwards is 23 and both of the Knicks' All-Stars (Towns and Brunson) are still in their 20s. Franchises that went all-in on two or three big-name, established players, such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, were less successful this postseason, with thin benches and injuries proving costly. Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
New York Post
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
BK dad Doug Berns turns Knicks game recaps into viral musical parodies: ‘It's mind blowing'
This Knicks fan is dropping bars after the buzzer. Brooklyn-based audio engineer and musician Doug Berns is making waves in the Knicks fandom this season with bizarre musical recaps of each game — which he writes, shoots and uploads with a lightning-speed turn-around of less than a day. 5 Musician Doug Berns, 37, at his Prospect Lefferts Gardens home. Stephen Yang Advertisement 'Knick fans are a family at the end of the day,' said Berns, 37, a lifelong fan who grew up on the Upper West Side and now lives in Prospect Lefferts Gardens with his wife and two daughters. 'The emotional roller coaster of investing in this team is really, really intense. My songs tell the stories of those roller coasters, I hope.' While Berns started the project with the goal of writing one original metal song inspired by a Knicks game, he found that musical parodies of '90s rock and hip hop tunes resonated deeply with audiences – and his videos have since drawn over 15,000 Instagram followers and millions of views since he began the series on Nov. 13 after a win against the Philadelphia 76ers. 5 Berns writes, shoots and uploads all of his musical Knicks game parodies in less than a day. Stephen Yang Advertisement 'My wheelhouse is music that I grew up listening to, and a lot of my millennial contemporaries are Knick fans that grew up in the last golden age of Knicks basketball,' Berns told The Post. 'Most of [the parodies] are songs that swirl around in our emotional hearts and minds.' In the months since Berns launched the endeavor, he's found fans in filmmaker Spike Lee, as well as Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart — who showcased one of Berns' songs on their podcast Roommates Show. 'The Internet is so wild, I could never have conceived of this,' Berns said. 'When [90s R&B song] 'Return of the Mack' came out and I'm 5 or 7 years old, the idea that I'd be able to parody it and have two Knicks players with a platform where they're watching me perform and reacting to it, it's mind blowing,' Berns said, referencing his Feb. 28 game parody. 5 Berns estimates he's garnered between 3 and 4 million views since November. Instagram/@duglust Advertisement The Manhattan-born musician also plays in Cafe Wha? house bands in Greenwich Village, a jazz project with 'Bobs Burgers' star H. Jon Benjamin, wedding bands and teaches a 'rock band' music class at an Upper East Side high school. He said he started the project because he felt he 'could always do something with my Knicks knowledge.' 'I was more excited this time,' he said. 'The last four seasons built to this season, with the way the roster was shaping up. I was like, 'I'm excited, I'm inspired, I want to do something.' 'I want to get better at producing songs and recording and playing different instruments. And this is how I do it,' he added. Advertisement 5 'The last four seasons built to this season, with the way the roster was shaping up. I was like, 'I'm excited, I'm inspired, I want to do something,' Berns said. Stephen Yang Berns said he's already laid down the instrumentals for Wednesday's Eastern Conference Finals game one parody — and teased the tune would be a '90s rock classic.' His musical process usually begins the morning of a game when he'll pick out and lay down the instrumentals for a song. Parodies include Alanis Morissette's 'You Oughta Know' redone for a game afainst the Toronto Raptors and a take on the Beastie Boys' '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!).' Other picks simply pay tribute to his home team: 'When I go towards a hip-hop direction they love it. It's synonymous with New York, a part of Knicks culture is hip hop.' The musician will then take notes during the game at night — watching for stand-out events and hot topics – and then will get to work right after the team wraps. The entire process takes about six hours, he said. 5 Berns isn't always a one-man band, and will sometimes feature guest artists, like TGIFLY (left), on his musical parodies. Instagram/@duglust 'I'll watch a game and be like, 'how am I going to do it?' But I have to, and then my creative juices kick in,' Berns said. 'It has to do with the pressure, the fact that people are counting on this as part of their game consumption ritual.' The Brooklyn musician is now planning to release a 'greatest hits' record on Spotify – and is already working out the copyright kinks. He's also hoping to turn his musical parodies into a 'live show' starting this fall. Advertisement 'I feel like I've been searching for a way to express my talent and fandom and personality for a long time, and I found it with this thing,' he added. 'My goal is to continue giving fans this thing that makes them happy: win or lose. 'It's a little microcosm of [the team's] successes and failures and triumphs and rejection,' he added. 'Music is a way of telling stories of people's lives, and I think doing both is a meta way to look at all of that.'
New York Post
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Mariska Hargitay is ‘envy' of every Knicks fan over Jalen Brunson love: Ben Stiller
Not all of the stars on 'Celebrity Row' receive the same reception from a certain Knicks playmaker. That's according to Knicks superfan Ben Stiller, who said Monday on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart's 'Roommates Show' podcast that longtime 'Law & Order: SVU' star Mariska Hargitay 'is the envy of every other Knicks fan' because of her game-day interactions with the team captain. 'The love that Mariska Hargitay gets from you postgame is the envy of every other Knicks fan, Knicks celebrity fan. She gets a hug after a loss,' Stiller said. Advertisement 5 Jalen Brunson and Mariska Hargitay embraced at a Knicks game in April 2025. Brunson, 28, then detailed how he grew up watching 'Law & Order: SVU' and its beloved star, whom he embraced courtside at Madison Square Garden on April 11. Advertisement 'I remember my dad always watching the show and it was like, you just hear the iconic [theme song] 'don-don' all the time in the house,' Brunson said, '… And so, always found myself watching the show and the older I got, the more I watched, the more I see now I'm like, 'I've seen that episode,' I've seen so many different episodes.' Brunson recalled feeling star-struck when he first met Hargitay, who has appeared on 'Law & Order' iterations since 1999 and plays Olivia Benson. 5 Actress Mariska Hargitay sits on celebrity row during a 2024 Knicks game against the Jazz. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Advertisement 'I've always loved the show, and I've never been like super, super starstruck. I saw her and I was like, 'Oh, s–t,' and then, the first time we met, it was awesome, we talked and everything,' he said. Brunson cited his quality time with Hargitay, 61, over the actress's rare Garden appearances compared to Stiller's. 'I expect to see him there all the time, but this is her first or second game this year, so I'm not going to see her for a long time, so I'm just going to say hi and go,' Brunson said. 5 Ben Stiller (r.) took in the Knicks' Game 2 win over the Pistons with Nick Jonas (l.) and Kevin Jonas (c.) on April 21, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Advertisement 5 Ben Stiller appears on the 'Roommates Show' on May 5, 2025. Youtube Stiller has been a staple at MSG throughout the season and the first round of the playoffs, which saw the Knicks knock off the Pistons in six games. His episode of the 'Roommates Show' dropped on the same day the Knicks rallied from a 20-point deficit to take Game 1 of their second-round series against the Celtics in Boston, 108-105. Before Brunson scored 29 points, four rebounds and five assists, he had to overcome some light teasing by Hart over the Hargitay of it all. 5 Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates the Knicks' Game 1 win over the Celtics on May 5, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post 'I've seen you not hug your wife after some losses,' Hart said, to which Brunson replied, 'That's a lie,' with a glare. 'Damn, man,' Brunson added with a smile. Game 2 tips off Wednesday at 7 p.m. before the series shifts to New York for Game 3 on Saturday.
New York Post
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Jrue Holiday not on injury report in critical update for Celtics' Jalen Brunson plan
BOSTON — The Celtics will be at full strength Monday night for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks. Standout guard Jrue Holiday, who missed the final three games of Boston's opening-round series win over the Magic due to a hamstring strain, was not listed on the injury report. Advertisement In fact, no Celtics were. 'He was able to do everything that we worked on. He is getting better every day,' coach Joe Mazzulla said on Saturday. Holiday, a two-time NBA champion and three-time all-defensive first team selection, will likely spend large portions of this series defending Knicks star Jalen Brunson. Brunson put up impressive numbers during the regular season against the Celtics, averaging 26.7 points, five assists and shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range. Advertisement 3 Jrue Holiday is pictured during Game 1 between the Celtics and Magic on April 20. Getty Images 3 Jrue Holiday guards Jalen Brunson during the Celtics' game against the Knicks on April 8. Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post The Knicks, however, were swept in four games, and only the final meeting was close, a two-point victory for Boston in overtime. Celtics All-Star wing and reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown also appears healthy after dealing with a right knee impingement against the Magic. Advertisement He played in all five games against Orlando, and produced 23.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range in 35.8 minutes. Josh Hart faulted Pistons guard Tim Hardaway Jr. for not getting the call at the controversial end of Game 4 of the opening-round series in comments on his 'Roommates Show' podcast with Brunson. Advertisement With the Knicks leading by one, Hart appeared to make contact with Hardaway on a 3-point attempt, but no foul was called. Follow The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series. Hardaway tried to draw contact on the play. Afterward, the officials said a foul should've been called. 3 Knicks' guard Josh Hart defends Detroit Pistons forward Tim Hardaway Jr. on the last shot of the game as the Knicks beat the Pistons. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post What's happening on and off the Garden court Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+. Thank you Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Check out more newsletters 'If he just shot the ball, who knows what could've happened. … But he kinda shot-faked,' Hart said. 'He was being very unethical, and the whole series Detroit was on [Brunson] about foul-baiting, and then [Hardaway] decided at the most important time in Game 4, he was like 'You know what, ah, let's try this foul-baiting thing out,' and it didn't work, and now they were mad.' Brunson added: 'Tim's going to text me and have some choice words for me, and I can't wait for it.'
