There are celebrity fans, and then there is Spike Lee. The iconic director has been seen for the New York Knicks long before the time of the courtside seats, and his relationship with the team is more integral than with some of the players who have ever worn the jersey.

Lee went beyond love when he spoke about New York basketball on ABC News.

"It's basketball. And no disrespect to the Brooklyn Nets or the Lady Liberty, but this is, I mean, I'll tell you what's happening."

He built his loyalty not in a luxury box. Lee grew up watching games from the blue heavens, the color-coded nosebleed section near the roof of Madison Square Garden, where seats were cheap, and the view was distant.

He had one of his earliest memories attending a Game 7 of the NBA Finals, watching the Knicks beat the Lakers in 1970. An unforgettable memory was embedded in his mind during that experience.

"When I was growing up, I was not sitting courtside. Back then, the different sections were colored. And when you were near the roof, there was the blue heavens. I just wanted to be in the Garden," Lee added.

Eventually, the little boy from the blue sky turned into one of the most familiar faces at Madison Square Garden. Since 1985, Lee has been a season ticket holder, with his courtside seats now as expensive as $5,000 per game and his lifetime investment in tickets estimated to be more than $10 million.

His fandom also had an impact on culture outside of basketball. He also appeared in his first movie as Mars Blackmon, who wore Air Jordans, a trend that eventually birthed a billion-dollar industry.

Lee was formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's SuperFan Gallery in October of 2024.

And on Thursday night, Lee was back in his courtside seat to watch his Knicks deliver one of their most dominant performances of this entire postseason run.

Spike Lee Watches From Courtside as Knicks Crush Cavaliers

It seemed like a perfect time for a man who has seen it all in that building. In Game 2, New York took a 2-0 advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals, dismantling Cleveland 109-93 and advancing into the Eastern Conference Finals two wins up with their first appearance in the Finals since 1999.

Josh Hart's exceptional 26 points, including five threes, were the highlight of the night for an unlikely hero. Jalen Brunson led the offense with 19 points and posted an 18-point, 14-assist game-high for the postseason, while Mikal Bridges netted 19 and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 18 and posted a career-high 13 rebounds.

Cleveland was buried in a game-defining 18-0 run that occurred in the third quarter. The Knicks enter the playoffs as a 10-2 team, having improved their record with nine straight wins.

Eleven of the previous 12 teams to achieve a nine-game winning streak in a single playoff run made the Finals.

Do you think Spike Lee will see the Knicks win an NBA title this year? Comment down below!

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta