I am pleased to be joined by my friend Ariel Hawani and Nick Fan, the Ariel Hohani show live on on Crown on Crown on Crown on Crown.

And Ariel is a big Nick fan.

So we're not here to talk the fight game, although he is the go-to guy for the fight game.

He is here to talk about the New York Knicks. And Ariel, I got to tell you, man, I am so excited. I am going home tonight to do something I haven't done since 1999. I'm going to watch a fucking Knicks finals game. How about that? It's unbelievable. It really is. I'm actually going to do my show right now, and it is about fighting, and I got to be honest with you, I can't concentrate. I can't muster up the emotion, the passion. I have such a stomach ache right now. Like, I am just perpetually nervous, and I can't get enough of all the content.

Last night, I was just sitting in bed watching every single press conference, the open workout, looking at them in front of that finals logo. We've been waiting for this. It felt

at one point, like it was never going to happen again in our lifetime. Like, they dropped a video with Clyde narrating it. I woke up this morning and I was showing my son that video and he looked at me. He's like, are you crying? And I'm like, yes, I'm crying. You don't realize you're 12 years old. You don't realize how much we suffered and what this means to us. I want this so bad, too guys. I can't even describe how badly I want this and to think that we are just four wins away

from, as I've said a million times over the past week to friends and family, a lifetime

of pain will be erased and a lifetime of angst will be relieved if they can pull this off.

Well said.

And Ariel, you didn't even mention the image of Patrick Ewing wearing the 2026 finals hat. Oh, God. Jesus. That broke me, man. That broke me. There was a moment there at the end of great. Patrick Ewing is my favorite athlete of all time. I became a Ewing fan in 1990 when I walked into a shoe store as an eight-year-old and my older

brothers playing a prank on me, say, don't buy those Jordans, buy those shoes, those big, ugly, bulky shoes, buy the Ewing's. And I'm like, all right, sure, guys. And then I look him up in a magazine, I'm like, all right, I guess this is my guy. And that's how I fall in love with the Knicks back in 1990 and Patrick Ewing being my guy.

And so when he was on the bench at the end of game four against the Cavs, and they kind of zoomed in on his face. And then he puts the hat on and it's Clyde to him, to Brunson. It broke me. I think every Nick fan wants this for themselves, but I think they wanted for Patrick. They wanted for John, they wanted for Charles, they wanted for Derek Harper, they wanted for all those guys as well.

And then, of course, Houston and Spree and LJ and Chris Child and Charlie Ward, there's just so much that goes into this, man.

And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's just mustering up a lot of emotion right now.

How many times have you cried during this finals run? I mean, at this point, since we've

clinched, it's been on a daily basis, all the videos, all the edits, the highlight reels.

I don't know. So I saw a couple people who I respect, say, Nixon 7, and I'm just thinking to myself, I am so nervous before game one. I don't think I'll be able to survive seven games. Right. Like, could you imagine what that seventh game will feel like game day? I don't know if my body can handle it. I'm being 100% honest. I know. I played the Rockets in 94. I was 12 years old, and I sat in a hotel room in Boston on there, forget crying wearing my Uing jersey, but I was 12 years old, like, to me, time was infinite. Now I'm staring at it at a, like, am I going to have to wait another 27 years to see them again? Well, I'd even be alive? Like, is this my last chance? And so it feels so much

more daunting. It feels so much more heavy at this time. Like, that's why I'm praying for a sweep.

I know there's no chance for a sweep, but I just kind of want to fast forward, get this over with,

and then relive it all, knowing how it all ends up. Ariel, I was making the argument to the guys earlier this postseason that Jalen Brunson

has changed my life, and they laughed at me, they said it was an overreaction.

Do you agree or disagree with that sentiment for diehard Nix fans that Jalen Brunson has changed

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