Knicks fans get the Game 6 fun started early with block party zone outside Madison Square Garden

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Knicks fans get the Game 6 fun started early with block party zone outside Madison Square Garden

2025-05-17 12:09 Last Updated At：12:11

NEW YORK (AP) — Christopher Morales came all the way from the Philippines, hoping to watch the New York Knicks in the playoffs.

The cost of a ticket into Madison Square Garden changed that plan. Luckily, there's a rocking way to catch the action that isn't near the celebrities sitting courtside, but it's also nowhere near courtside prices.

The free block party zone outside the arena swells with fans hours before the games, and serves as a launching point from where supporters can gather afterward when the Knicks win and start a celebration that spans several city blocks.

And what a party it was when the Knicks finished off the Boston Celtics with a 119-81 victory on Friday night in Game 6, sending them to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.

“It was really crazy," said Brian Siaw, a New York native who now lives in nearby Newark, New Jersey. "I have been out here for all the watch parties this series. Honestly, the first time in my life I experienced this. I left home to come here to watch, just for the environment, the experience. To be honest, it’s amazing. If you are a New Yorker and you are home, I think you should experience one of the watch parties.”

The success the Knicks are enjoying after so many bad years has energized longtime fans and brought many new ones like Morales, who arrived in New York on the day of their victory in Game 4 of the series on Monday.

“I always watch on the television,” he said, “so that’s why I (came), just to watch the game.”

He was watching on one of the giant viewing screens located between 33rd and 34th St. The plaza opened two hours before the game to serve as a sort of pep rally, with prize giveaways and appearances by former players. The game telecast began a half hour before.

Many fans wore blue-and-orange Knicks jerseys, some bearing the names of John Starks and Latrell Sprewell, players from the beloved 1990s era when the Knicks were annual threats to contend for Eastern Conference championships. The No. 11 of Jalen Brunson, the Knicks' current superstar, appeared to be the most popular choice.

There were even some Celtics ones sprinkled in. One fan wearing Jayson Tatum's No. 0 was playfully stopped by a Knicks fan who asked the people around him if the man could stay.

“Is he good?” the fan asked.

The nearby fans indicated that he was OK — then booed him as he walked by.

Ticket prices have soared past $600 apiece on some sites just to get into MSG. Brunson, as the team captain, might have the clout to help, but don't bother trying.

“My good friends know not to ask,” he said earlier in the series.

Morales quickly got over any disappointment he had of not getting into the arena. The “Let's Go Knicks! Let's Go Knicks!” chants that were already ringing out long before tipoff indicated it was going to be plenty fun right where he was.

“This is my first time experiencing a block party here in New York,” he said.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Putin tells his annual news conference that the Kremlin's military goals will be achieved in Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin emphasized Friday that Moscow’s troops were advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine and voiced confidence the Kremlin would achieve its goals militarily if Kyiv doesn't agree to Russia's conditions in peace talks.

Speaking at his tightly orchestrated annual news conference that lasted about 4 1/2 hours, Putin declared that Russian forces have “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make more gains by year's end.

In the early days of the conflict in 2022, Ukraine's forces thwarted an attempt by Russia’s larger, better-equipped army, to capture the capital of Kyiv. But the fighting soon settled into grinding battles, and Moscow's troops have made slow and steady progress over the years. Putin frequently touts this progress — even though it's not the lightning advance many expected.

“Our troops are advancing all across the line of contact, faster in some areas or slower in some others, but the enemy is retreating in all sectors,” Putin said at the live news conference, which is combined with a nationwide call-in show that offers Russians across the country the opportunity to ask questions of their leader.

Putin, 73, has ruled the country for 25 years and uses the event to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs.

This year, the news conference took place against the backdrop of a peace plan in Ukraine put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite the extensive diplomatic push, Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

While the event has previously focused heavily on domestic questions — and has offered Putin a chance to expound on topics from the price of eggs to water cuts — Ukraine dominated it this year. Since it is highly choreographed, that could reflect the Kremlin’s desire to assuage the public after nearly four years of fighting.

Putin reaffirmed that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would address the “root causes” of the conflict, a reference to the Kremlin’s tough conditions for a deal.

The Russian leader wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He has also insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet. Kyiv has publicly rejected all these demands.

The Kremlin has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warned that it wouldn't accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance members and would view them as “legitimate target.”

Putin also has repeatedly said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language — demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to alliance members. But at the same time, he has emphasized that Ukraine believes NATO membership remains the best security guarantee.

″The United States don’t see us in NATO, for now," Zelenskyy said this week. “Politicians change.”

Commenting on Zelenskyy's statement that he was ready to call a presidential election if a ceasefire is established, Putin responded that Russia has held elections without demanding a truce. He said that Moscow was ready to consider the issue and could agree to halt attacks deep inside Ukraine on the election day, but noted that millions of Ukrainians living in Russia must have the right to vote.

Putin rebuffed Western claims about purported Russian plans to attack European nations as “sheer nonsense” aimed at deflecting public attention from domestic problems.

He particularly singled out NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for his statements about the Kremlin's aggressive intentions, pointing out Trump's recently published national security strategy that doesn’t name Russia as a direct adversary. “How can you prepare NATO for a war with Russia if the main member of NATO doesn't consider us as an enemy?” Putin said.

He alleged that European elites “impudently” backed Trump's Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election and now hope the U.S. political landscape will change after the midterm elections to Congress, helping raise pressure on the White House.

As it faces grinding Russian advances across the front line and relentless attacks on its energy facilities, Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy — and it desperately needs more cash from its Western allies.

On Friday, European Union leaders agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.

The leaders tried to reassure Belgium, where most of the frozen assets are held, that they would protect it from any retaliation from Moscow if it backed the plan, but the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.

Putin said using Russian assets to help Kyiv would have amounted to “robbery,” adding that the move would have spooked investors, “dealing not only an image blow but undermining confidence in the eurozone.”

Putin told the audience the flow of volunteer soldiers has remained strong, topping 400,000 this year. It was not possible to independently verify that claim since little is known about the recruitment effort.

But the government offers relatively high pay and extensive benefits that have helped swell troop ranks. The Kremlin says that it exclusively relies on volunteers to fight in Ukraine, but some media reports and rights groups have said that military officers often coerce conscripts into signing military contracts.

Asked by a soldier’s widow about the slowness in paying out a pension, Putin apologized and vowed that the issue would be quickly solved — an exchange typical of the annual event, which the Russian leader often uses to show his command of a wide array of subjects and his ability to solve problems.

The news conference featured questions from journalists in the Gostinny Dvor amphitheater as well as via video link from across Russia. A young man in a red bow tie who held a placard saying he wanted to get married used his question to Putin to propose to his girlfriend. Later, one of the anchors hosting the event reported that she had answered “yes,” and Putin joked about collecting money for the wedding.

Knicks fans get the Game 6 fun started early with block party zone outside Madison Square Garden

Sport

Knicks fans get the Game 6 fun started early with block party zone outside Madison Square Garden

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