What's it like being a Spurs fan on Long Island? 'Every one of my friends are Knicks fans'
Sean McBride and Jocelyn Ramirez at a Spurs game in Brooklyn in February 2026. Credit: Sean McBride
Smithtown's Matt Carlucci is a San Antonio Spurs fan who is thinking of attending a watch party in New York City during Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
But don’t worry: He must know other Spurs fans from Long Island, right?
Wrong.
“One,” he said. “Me.”
There must be some. But Spurs fans on Long Island are a pretty rare species.
“Every one of my friends are Knicks fans,” said Carlucci, 28, who said he became a Spurs fan because he enjoyed rooting for basketball Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili, an Argentine who spent his entire 16-year NBA career with San Antonio and won four NBA titles.
“I sort of had carte blanche going into any NBA team,” Carlucci said. “My parents didn't follow it, so I wasn't indoctrinated into any fandom. Once I saw him, I picked the Spurs. I’m a Yankee fan. Through and through all New York except for this. This is like . . . I just I can't do it.”
Sean McBride of Dix Hills is also a Spurs fan. But it wasn’t a particular player that caught his eye.
It was the team’s logo.
“I would say just at a young age, falling in love with basketball at the time, I would say I really liked the logo,” said McBride, 25. “And then a deeper dive into it, I really fell in love with the whole culture of the city, and the Spurs and the Spurs way, and I guess I would say the community aspect of the team.”
McBride has been to San Antonio once, to see a Spurs-Golden State game in 2016. Games 1 and 2 are in that city. With ticket prices as high as they are at Madison Square Garden — more than $4,000 a pop on the secondary market — might a second trip to San Antonio be in store for McBride?
“I was looking maybe at just flights to go to San Antonio for Game 2,” McBride said. “Not to really go to the game but maybe check out watch parties and feel the vibes. Just get a feel for the city after hopefully a big win. But I don't know if the prices are going to let me do that.”
McBride said he has a lot of Knicks fan friends. The trash-talking has begun about how the Knicks are going to get revenge this year for the Spurs’ five-game victory over them in the 1999 Finals.
“Plenty,” he said. “All my life I've heard it. This is definitely a big year for them, and I'm trying to not be too harsh because I've definitely had some good years rooting for the Spurs. But my whole life, I have heard it, had to hear from them, just because of living here.”
And where is he planning to watch the series opener? Sports bar? Watch party? Last-minute trip to San Antonio?
“I think Game 1 is going to be at the house,” he said. “Just a Wednesday night. Probably keeping it cool.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
