Knicks fans could make Atlanta seem like a Garden party over the next two games
Knicks fans Casey Powell and his wife Marija Kero-Powell of Rockville Centre at Madison Square for Game 2 of the Knicks-Hawks' Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/William Perlman
Could Atlanta’s State Farm Arena look and feel like Madison Square Garden South?
Time will tell, but if past playoff series have been any indicator, a significant number of Knicks fans will make their presence felt in the Hawks’ home. The best-of-seven first-round series between the two teams is tied at 1-1 and will resume with Game 3 at 7 p.m. Thursday and continue with Game 4 at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Rockville Centre’s Casey Powell, better known as “CP the Fanchise” among Knicks fans, is the creator of “KnicksFanTV,” a YouTube channel with more than 103,000 subscribers. Powell will be at Game 4 and is hoping the Knicks will have a series lead by Saturday, when he’ll be hosting a pregame meetup with a live show at Hudson Grille in Downtown Atlanta. Powell has been putting on events in away cities that already have a big Knicks fan presence — including Atlanta, the site of KnicksFanTV’s first road meetup during the first round of the 2021 playoffs — and is looking forward to Saturday’s pregame “pep rally.”
“What makes it memorable is that you're quote-unquote in enemy territory, but not really because you're also surrounded by Knicks fans,” Powell, 41, told Newsday. “And that's the thing. That's why we kind of choose those cities where there's an abundance of New Yorkers already there, or we know that it's on a weekend when we know that New Yorkers are going to fly out … That's what makes it fun because even though we're traveling on the road and you're quote-unquote supposed to be in hostile territory, you're also amongst your friends.
“And so when the team wins, it's even more exhilarating because you kind of did it on the road, but sort of at home as well.”
When he was in Atlanta five years ago, Powell remembered his whole section being Knicks fans. In Philadelphia for Game 4 of the 2024 first round, when Jalen Brunson scored 47 points in a win, he said his whole row behind the bench was Knicks fans.
Other Knicks fans also have had the thrill of going to road playoff games.
David Perlmutter, 43, of Syosset, and Mit Shah, 41, of Syosset, are friends who previously have gone on group playoff trips with their sons, who are 11. Past destinations included Detroit, Philadelphia and Indianapolis. They won’t be at the same game this year because of a personal scheduling conflict, but Perlmutter is traveling to Atlanta for Game 3 while Shah will be there for Game 4.
Shah recalled Game 3 of the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals in Indianapolis, when the Pacers squeaked out a five-point win. He remembered receiving chirps from Pacers fans telling them to hop on their flight back, but it was “all in good fun.”
Perlmutter, a longtime Knicks season-ticket holder, estimated Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia in 2024 had “80% Knicks fans,” and by Game 6 76ers owners bought thousands of tickets to block Knicks fans from showing up. He added that Game 3 in Detroit last year, while not “an MSG takeover,” was “arguably the best environment I've ever been in.”
“I think that there'll be a big contingent of Knicks fans [in Atlanta], for sure, and I also think it'll be a great environment,” Perlmutter said. “I did not want the Knicks to lose, obviously, but the Hawk fan base feels like they could upset us and win this. Like, to me, there was not a lot of life in this series. I think people assumed that the Knicks were going to win.
“Fans, I think across the board, are taking it a bit for granted all of the sudden. Like, ‘Oh, are you going to the game? I'll wait for round two.’ It's like, ‘Well, hopefully [there will] Round 2.’ People were kind of overlooking the Hawks, but now all of the sudden, we're in a dogfight.”
While several Knicks fans from the Island will be making the trip to Atlanta, some, like Powell alluded to, actually moved there.
Bay Shore native Thomas Skrine, 46, moved to an Atlanta suburb in December 2020. He is attending Game 3.
Skrine attended his first Hawks-Knicks game in Atlanta on April 6, a 108-105 win for the Knicks after CJ McCollum’s potential game-tying half-court shot at the buzzer left his hand a smidge late. After that game, he was hoping that the teams would meet in the postseason.
“I always saw the MSG South stuff, so ‘Yeah, OK, let's see,’” Skrine said. “My first experience [on April 6], it felt like a home game. There were a lot of Atlanta fans there, but there were so many Knicks fans.
“The hallways were, ‘Let's go Knicks!’ We even had some Atlanta fans turning, screaming the chants. The energy is just so great down here, and I really appreciate that as a Knicks fan.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
