Dave Portnoy finally said the painful part out loud after the Knicks finished the job his Celtics could not reach this season.
New York's 94-90 Game 5 win over the Spurs gave the franchise its first NBA title since 1973.
It also forced one of Boston 's loudest sports voices to separate the Knicks players from the fanbase he clearly still cannot stomach.
In an X post after the championship, Portnoy gave the Knicks the kind of credit that probably hurt to type.
"The Knicks are actually a very likeable team. It just stinks their fans that I can't stand."
That is as close to a rivalry compliment as Portnoy is likely to offer. He is a rabid Celtics fan, a Boston sports lifer, and someone who has built plenty of content around New York misery, so admitting there is anything likable about the Knicks is not a small turn.
The key is that he praised the team, not the noise around it. Jalen Brunson , Josh Hart , Mikal Bridges , OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns gave even rival fans a tough, connected, hard-playing champion to respect.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Portnoy's admission did not come from nowhere. After Game 1, he posted that the Knicks' win was "no fluke," adding that they were better than the Spurs and Brunson was better than Victor Wembanyama .
That made him one of the few prominent non-Knicks voices to read the Finals clearly before the result was obvious. When the betting market swung back toward San Antonio during Game 4, he called it "insane" and said he refused to believe New York would choke the series away.
Still, his emotional reaction showed how much the run bothered him. After the Knicks' 29-point Game 4 comeback, he said watching their fans celebrate made his skin crawl, then ripped the celebrity row scene as fake and obnoxious.
That is why this post lands. Portnoy still dislikes Knicks fans, celebrity chaos, and almost everything attached to New York sports culture.
But after Brunson won Finals MVP, the Knicks ended a 53-year drought and Boston watched from home, even Portnoy had to admit the basketball was real. For a Celtics diehard, that may be the most painful compliment of all.
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