For the first time in 27 years, the New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals, and while New York City is just a train ride away from South Orange and Maplewood, many fans are choosing to cheer on their team from their favorite local sports bars and pubs.
Decked out with blue and orange decor, several restaurants in the two towns have experienced an increase in customers over the past couple of weeks because of the Knicks’ success, and the spirit is spreading far past the city.
“It’s cool to enjoy it at home,” Kwame Ohemeng said, who watched the first game of the Finals at Bunny’s Sports Bar and Restaurant in South Orange. “It’s a lot more convenient than going into the city…things are a little too crazy right now.”
With the streets of NYC overflowing with fans, especially near Penn Station, customers like Ohemeng are embracing the five minute drive it takes them to get to places like Bunny’s.
“It definitely feels like Knicks country here in South Orange,” he added.
Another customer, Garret Starr, also watched the game at Bunny’s Wednesday night. It was his first time there and said it exceeded the criteria of a proper watchparty environment: “a bunch of TVs, good food and beer.”
In Maplewood, many Knicks fans who chose to watch both games at St. James’s Gate Publick House agreed with Ohemeng and Starr.
“Going to the city would have been way too packed,” D Mincy said. The last time the Knicks brought home the gold from an NBA championship, Mincy was only a year old. “It’s time for them to win it.”
For Carl Patterson, an avid supporter of the Knicks and St. James’ Gate, a win “feels the same here [in Maplewood] as it would [if I were] in New York.”
John Neade, who runs St. James’s Gate with his family, loves everything about the intensity of these games, and said it brings out “a really good mix of older and younger people of age.”
After the Finals, Neade said St. James’s Gate will quickly pivot to entertaining the World Cup, and are aiming to have another TV installed by that time.
Like Neade, former Maplewood Deputy Mayor and now Committee MemberNancy Adams thinks these games are “a great way to bring people together, especially after COVID-19.” Her favorite spot to gather and watch games, she said, is at Avenue Pub on Springfield Avenue.
Paul Fischer, the owner, said that Avenue Pub along with South Orange and Maplewood make for a “great environment, great town, and great community…so why would you leave (to watch it in New York)?”
On Friday night, Fischer only counted three fans rooting for the San Antonio Spurs. He said that he’s witnessed “more passionate Knicks fans than fans of the Yankees, Mets, Giants or Jets combined.”
He said he anticipates that the Knicks’ next two home games will make crowds in NYC and SOMA crazier, and that the excitement is going to keep growing. “Knicks fans can taste a victory.”
New York native Donia Abuzaid is just one of millions nationwide hungry for that victory. On her way into Bunny’s, Abuzaid explained “what a historic moment this is to be a part of…there is such good energy in the air.”
Bunny’s runs in Noelle Pogany’s family, and was originally a grocery store until it became a bar after prohibition. Pogany was always told that “the Knicks are the best, but they’re just not having a good year…year after year.” She said that Bunny’s has always been a Knicks bar, “but now, (we) are even more proud to be that.”
Pogany described the restaurant as a really exciting and fun atmosphere to be in.
“After Friday night’s win, I saw a 50-year-old man jumping around like a little boy,” she said. “Everyone legitimately from their soul is a Knicks fan.”
And to so many Knicks fans who grew up in SOMA or are originally from New York, having spaces to unite under one roof and cheer on the same beloved players is the most special part of it all. “This is home to a lot of people,” Pogany said, referencing her restaurant as well as the community, “and the heart is here.”
