It’s a real hoops scream.
Die-hard Knicks fans on Long Island who were psyched up for the hometown hoopsters in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals this week are being forced to stay home or shell out big bucks — thanks to the Long Island Rail Road strike that has grounded thousands.
“You’re looking at a $1,500 night,” said Huntington Knicks superfan Julie Moss-Silver, who told The Post she’s going to have to plunk down $350 for a car service just to get to MSG for the game.
Alex Mitchell /NY Post
“It’s a real problem,” Moss-Silver said. “I wonder if at the negotiating table they’re thinking about the Knicks as well, and what kind of money [the MTA is] going to be leaving on the table.”
The Knicks’ matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers kicks off Tuesday at the Garden, the final hurdle to get to the NBA Finals with a chance to win a title for the first time in 53 years.
There is some potential “good luck” though — the Knicks won the Eastern Conference title in 1994, the same year as the last LIRR strike, a viral X post noted on Sunday.
New York ultimately lost in the NBA Finals to the Rockets in a memorable seven-game series.
But the current LIRR walkout has left many fans on the bench.
“[The MTA] has until game one of the Eastern Conference Finals to figure this s–t out,” fumed 17-year-old fan Jordan Phillips of Bay Shore, who has been dreaming of seeing his team in the playoffs.
For Knicks fan Pat Fazio, a retired NYPD cop from Commack, it’s just not worth the trouble.
“I would love to, but I just can’t,” he said. “You could have given me floor seats and I wouldn’t go.”
With the railroad shut down, Fazio said he could drive to the game, which means leaving at 3:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. tip-off — not counting the time it could take to find a garage or parking spot in Manhattan.
Taking a bus would mean a nightmare three-hour ordeal with a stop in Queens along the way.
Either way, he estimates that would get him home exhausted after 1 a.m.
“I said, ‘No thanks,’” Fazio said. “I’d rather watch on TV.”
