Knicks fans from Long Island traveling to Cleveland for Game 3 of Eastern Conference Finals vs. Cavs
Jeff Hershkowitz and his family at a Knicks' 2025 playoff game in Indiana. Credit: Jeff Hershkowitz
Road trip!
It won’t be a Knicks fan takeover as it was in Philadelphia, but some Long Islanders are making the journey to Cleveland to attend Saturday night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Knicks fans are calling in favors from friends who are Cavaliers fans (“got an extra ticket?”) or dialing up the grandparents (“can we stay with you?”).
Some are heading to Cleveland and back for a total stay of less than 24 hours. Others are making a long holiday weekend of it.
But they all share one truth: Getting a ticket in Cleveland is much less expensive than trying to get one at Madison Square Garden.
According to online ticket reseller TickPick, Game 1 at MSG was the most expensive NBA conference finals game in history with the average ticket price above $1,000, and Game 2 surpassed it at more than $1,100.
Thursday night’s Game 2 at MSG saw a lowest price of $628 a ticket, which according to TickPick is more than it could take to attend all three potential series games in Cleveland (a total of $578 in tickets).
“Relative to the Garden, it's less expensive even buying them on the secondary market,” said Jeff Hershkowitz of Port Washington, who bought six tickets to Game 3 and will attend with his wife and four children. “We're sitting in the 200s, which is like the upper level, but center court. It was right around $500 a ticket. You can't even walk in the Garden for that.”
The Hershkowitz family made a similar trip to Indianapolis last year to watch the Knicks play the Pacers in the conference finals. This year, Hershkowitz said, the plan is to take in a minor-league baseball game, visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, stay in a downtown Cleveland hotel for about $200 a night (two rooms), stop by Niagara Falls, and “somehow make it back to Port Washington by Monday night. Part Knicks pilgrimage, part family chaos, part summer road trip.”
One fan was motivated by the Knicks’ historic comeback victory in the series opener and knew he, his wife and their two young children could stay with his in-laws.
“I had no plans on going, but after watching Game 1, I'm like, ‘You know what? I’ve got to be there,’ ” said Haig Kilicyan of Manhasset. “I checked out flights. Flights were a little pricey. So you know what? We're gonna do it Clark Griswold style and we're driving.”
(Clark Griswold is Chevy Chase’s character in the “National Lampoon Vacation” movies, where travel mishaps occur and hilarity ensues.)
Kilicyan said he snagged tickets that were “section 1 equivalent, maybe 15 rows up, for about 350 bucks [each]. I’ve got to think those tickets at the Garden will be well over $1,000.”
Eddie Vazquez, an anesthesiologist from Manhattan, cashed in some frequent-flier miles for a flight Saturday afternoon and a return trip on Sunday morning. He has a friend who is a Cavaliers season-ticket holder.
“The minute we found out that the matchup was Cleveland, he called me up,” Vazquez said. “Offered me face value tickets, said I could stay with him. Basically, the trip’s on him short of the price of the face value ticket, so I really couldn't pass it up. I’m going to be sitting three rows from the court for $400. The equivalent at MSG, I think probably would be $5,000 to $10,000 for that same seat.”
Vazquez said he went to one game during this year’s playoffs at the Garden in the first round against Atlanta.
“In 2021, I went to actually every home game in the playoffs and I didn't feel the sticker shock of it,” he said. “Now, as somebody who actually feels like he makes good money in the city, I really feel priced out of MSG as the rounds go on. I can't imagine what the [NBA] Finals tickets will look like.”
Vazquez does have a potential backup plan, though, if the Knicks make it and the timing works out:
Road trip!
NBA Eastern Conference Finals Schedule: Knicks vs. Cavaliers
All games start at 8 p.m. ET and air on ESPN, unless otherwise noted
Game 1: Knicks 115, Cavaliers 104, OT
Game 2: Knicks 109, Cavaliers 93
Game 3: Knicks at Cleveland, Saturday on ABC
Game 4: Knicks at Cleveland, Monday, May 25
*Game 5: Cleveland at Knicks, Wednesday, May 27
*Game 6: Knicks at Cleveland, Friday, May 29
*Game 7: Cleveland at Knicks, Sunday, May 31
* if necessary
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.
