Optimism stays high for fans at watch parties

As the Knicks and Spurs traded leads and fouls while Jalen Brunson dealt with nagging knee and ankle injuries, many Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden didn't lose hope.

Serge Cadesca, 35, of Coram, sat on the Bridge watching the Knicks go back and forth with the Spurs.

"It feels like a real game like they're here," Cadesca said. "it's looking like Knicks basketball. They go down, they come back and take leads, it's how they've been playing all year. They've got grit, spirit, courage and pride. It says a lot about them individually and them as a whole. They're in good shape."

Victoria Kearney, 16, of Westchester, watched with her father and friends as the Knicks made a third-quarter comeback.

"This is amazing energy and this team might be part of history," Kearney said. "This is almost the same as being at the game. The crowd is electric. It shows the team's dedication and thru have to keep pushing to work hard on defense. We've got this."

At The Spread in Lindenhurst, some fans folded up their chairs at halftime and headed home, citing work the following morning. The line for the bathroom inside the bar, and those for port-a-potties outside, was short, and patrons made their way to the bar counter with relative ease, a seemingly impossible task during the first quarter.

"It's not a mess, but in the beginning, everybody was trying to get drinks, everybody was trying to get food, you couldn't move," Emma Rosenberg, 23, of Quogue, told Newsday during the second half. Things have since died down.

Some fans, including Zachary Cook, felt the crowd dwindled not only in size, but in spirit by the second quarter’s end.

"I feel like the crowd's got to get better; it's a little dead right now," Cook, 17, of Lindenhurst, said. "We're losing, but we're going to win. Knicks in six."

Other fans, including Brianna Block, 23, of Lindenhurst, shared his optimism.

"We're losing right now but I feel like we got it," she said. "I think we're going to win in four."

During the first half, the roar of the crowd diminished that of the LIRR trains that frequently passed on the nearby overpass. The crowd continued its streak in the second half with a raucous “Let’s Go Knicks” ahead of a commercial break.

Way in the back of the crowd still hundreds deep stood Rob Boltan holding his son Jackson. When the father arrived earlier in the evening, he looked at his son zipping around on his scooter and said: "He's lucky, he's only 3 and they're in the finals."

"Being able to watch the Knicks on a big screen with him and the chance to see them in the finals is awesome," Boltan, 32, of Lindenhurst, said during halftime. "You can watch the game at home anytime you want. To see it outside with your community and your town is awesome."

The crowd erupted as the game-tying three-pointer passed through the net to end the third quarter.