{"id":1977104,"date":"2026-06-07T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1977104"},"modified":"2026-06-07T10:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:00:25","slug":"edie-falco-a-possessive-knicks-fan-revels-in-teams-nba-finals-run-these-are-my-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1977104","title":{"rendered":"Edie Falco, a \u2018possessive\u2019 Knicks fan, revels in team\u2019s NBA Finals run: \u2018These are my guys\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You are, of course, allowed to roll your eyes at the prospect of reading yet another profile of a celebrity NBA fan. And especially a celebrity New York Knicks fan.<\/p>\n

In contrast, I will now fanboy my socks off because Edie freaking Falco is on the phone.<\/p>\n

The four-time Emmy Award-winning actress \u2014 the fierce co-star of the seminal HBO series \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d with the late, great James Gandolfini, and who went on to more acclaim as the star of the Showtime series \u201cNurse Jackie\u201d \u2014 is, like many fellow Gothamites, in total thrall these days.<\/p>\n

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The Knicks are two\u00a0games away from the NBA championship that has eluded the franchise since 1973. And Falco is over the moon with the team she fell in love with at the start of the 2000s \u2014 the Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby teams, with a dash of Steve Novak thrown in \u2014\u00a0as she watched them at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little embarrassed at my positivity and joie de vivre,\u201d she says. \u201cNot being the winning team is kind of built into the Knicks\u2019 sauce. You say you\u2019re a Knicks fan, and people are like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m sorry.\u2019 It\u2019s like a joke. But it\u2019s never really mattered to me \u2019cause I just love \u2019em. I love the Knicks, and I love being at the Garden, even though the individuals are different every year. So, this is some whole other place. This is some whole other thing. It\u2019s intense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where to put this. It\u2019s a little bit like everybody is focused now on my guys. But they\u2019re my<\/em> guys! I\u2019m feeling sort of very possessive about my team. Like, the whole freaking world is focused on them right now, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Back off, everybody. These are my guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Falco, who recently starred in Paramount\u2019s \u201cMayor of Kingstown,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is well aware that other Knicks fans have been at this longer. Spike Lee, of course, is the ultimate and most famous Knicks fan of this generation<\/a>, having worked his way down from the blue seats<\/a> at the top of the Garden as a kid in the 1970s to his courtside perch, his season tickets well earned and his celebrity\/infamy to opposing teams\u2019 fans well documented.<\/p>\n

These days, the likes of Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Tracy Morgan and Fat Joe get the quality (read: free) premium seats. Even Falco is on the waiting list for NBA Finals tickets at the Garden, which are being sold at throat-closing prices on the open market. So, if she doesn\u2019t make it in for games 3 and 4 against the San Antonio Spurs this week, she\u2019s content to scream at the TV, with her pretzels and water at her side \u2014 her only sort-of superstition.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"The<\/p>\n
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\n The Knicks are surging in the NBA Finals, and so are ticket prices to MSG\n <\/div>\n
\n The price of tickets for Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden is booming as the Knicks hold a 1-0 lead over the Spurs.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The next game is her priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am working in Pittsburgh a lot these days, so I am being the good soldier,\u201d she says. \u201cI am going to work. (But) I\u2019ve told everybody else, if my time on-set starts to look like it\u2019s going to cut into the game, at the hotel, I just said to them, \u2018I just want you to know, I\u2019m gonna leave.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to be disrespectful, and I\u2019m always a good employee.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut I feel like, at this point in my life, I have my priorities. So I have to be in front of a TV when the game starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falco isn\u2019t some Jackie-come-lately to the Association. Her hoops fandom dates back to the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I was dating a guy who was a Pistons fan,\u201d she clarifies. \u201cThat was kind of my introduction to basketball. He was really a die-hard fan. And so we spent a lot of time watching basketball, and I kind of felt myself getting into it. His enthusiasm was contagious. And Isiah (Thomas) was phenomenal back in the day \u2014 a little bit like (Jalen) Brunson; not a huge guy, but able to do amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

But her passion for the game was turbocharged after she was cast as Carmela Soprano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The HBO megahit, which won 21 Emmys during its run (1999-2007), led to all manner of perks. One day, someone simply announced to Falco that she could take a free trip to the Caribbean. Among another batch of unique benefits to Sopranodom were tickets to the Garden. (Falco paid it forward by taking part in the Knicks\u2019 secret recruiting pitch to LeBron James in 2010, taping a tongue-in-cheek pitch to James<\/a> with Gandolfini to come play for New York,\u00a0reprising their roles as Tony and Carmela.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cOn a whim, I think it was \u2014 I actually don\u2019t remember why I originally said yes,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it would be fun. It really was the \u2018Aha!\u2019 moment, courtside, watching these players. I was, like, dumbstruck by how beautiful the game is, how giant these men are. And hearing the sneakers, and hearing them yell at each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I was hooked pretty early on. It is completely, 100 percent like nothing else I\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Edie Falco and her son, Anderson, attend the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2013. (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If Falco doesn\u2019t take her boyfriend or her son as her plus-one to the Garden, she often sits with fellow actor Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby \u201cBacala\u201d Baccalieri on \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d and went on to star in the police drama \u201cBlue Bloods.\u201d Schirripa\u2019s love for the Knicks dates to when he had a student card to get into the Garden for $6 while at Brooklyn College in the late \u201970s, when he played Division III basketball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s a rabid fan,\u201d Schirripa said by phone of Falco. \u201cShe knows the game. She was ecstatic against Philly (in the Eastern Conference semis). She was dancing during the timeouts, and you don\u2019t ever see that. Very, very loyal and passionate. \u2026 Win or lose, she\u2019s a real fan. She yells. She doesn\u2019t scream like a maniac, but she voices her opinion. And she\u2019s usually low-key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting locked into the Knicks has meant Falco has had to learn the pain true fans feel when the roster turns over year after year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say I\u2019m there yet, but when each new year starts and you\u2019re like, \u2018They traded IQ (Immanuel Quickley)? And Donte (DiVincenzo)? Are you f\u2014ing kidding me?\u2019 You\u2019ve got to talk to the fans before you do that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took it really, really hard for a while. I thought I was making a point by not paying attention to the first few games of the season. I was boycotting. Nobody gave a s\u2014. But every year, it took me a while to come around. Like, no, this is this year\u2019s Knicks team. Invariably, you fall in love with this particular crowd, this particular alchemy, the relationships and all that stuff. It feels a little disloyal. Like, I feel like I should still be following Donte\u2019s career, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Falco does a lot of plays in front of live audiences. There are similarities between actors having to perform on cue, she says, and athletes having to be at their best when the lights come on and 18,000 people are watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a combination of laser focus and remaining open to what\u2019s actually happening around you,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you\u2019re doing a play and you know the words, and you\u2019re doing it, but if someone either messes up, or they\u2019re in the wrong place on the stage, or there\u2019s a sound in the audience, you need to be able to take that in, make a quick adjustment and then get back in the mode. And this is exactly what these guys do. You see this group in particular, our starters, but all of them, they are behaving like one person.\u201d<\/p>\n

She became a big Carmelo Anthony fan during his Knicks days. Their paths crossed over the years at fundraisers around the city \u2014 and later when Anthony was cast in an episode of \u201cNurse Jackie.\u201d Here, though, the fan tables were turned, as Falco \u201ckept making big circles\u201d around Anthony as he did his scenes. It still happens when Falco is in proximity to the players \u2014 like when she did the \u201cRoommates\u201d podcast with Brunson and Josh Hart<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI got there early,\u201d she said. \u201cI walked around. I had to take deep breaths. I sat in the car, and then I got out, and then I got back in the car. I was like, \u2018What are you doing, Falco? How many goddamned podcasts have you done?\u2019 But I was a nervous wreck. I don\u2019t feel this way about anybody. I\u2019ve met everybody at this point that most people would be intimidated by. These guys kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an odd alchemy in the Garden. The players\u2019 fame is real, but so are so many of the people who sit and watch them. Every NBA team has a few celebrity fans, including the Spurs<\/a>. But the Knicks\u2019 star fan base is part of the nightly story at MSG. The players are locked into their jobs, but they notice.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"The<\/p>\n
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\n The Knicks are delivering a lifetime run to a fan base madly in love with them\n <\/div>\n
\n From Madison Square Garden to the Alamo, an army of blue and orange has been loud and proud during New York’s playoff streak.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cI think before the national anthem of every game, I kind of take a couple of seconds and embrace the situation God put me in,\u201d Hart said before Game 1 of the finals. \u201cI\u2019m blessed to go out here and play a game. In the big picture, this is a game, like I\u2019ve gotten to do since I was a little kid, having fun with it. Just a blessing I think about every single game. It\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what will Falco do if the Knicks actually finish this off with that elusive championship and hoist the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy? She is \u2026 a little conflicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I want them to win,\u201d she begins. \u201cBut I will be there at the beginning of next year, regardless. Whether or not they win this, regardless of who\u2019s on the team. This is part of my life for so many reasons other than winning. And there\u2019s something about \u2014 I\u2019m reluctant to even say this. But let\u2019s say they do win, and there\u2019s going to be massive celebrations, where everybody feels like they can have a piece of my<\/em> team. But also, it kind of lets the air out of the balloon that\u2019s kept it so exciting for so many years. So, like, next year, what, we\u2019ve got to win it again? You know what I mean? I don\u2019t f\u2014ing know. It\u2019s not about winning for me. It\u2019s almost like how I feel about these guys when they lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to a couple of other women my age who are also Knicks fans. You do some maternal thing with these guys. You see them on the bench after missing a free throw or whatever, or they\u2019ve lost the game. And your heart goes out to these kids. You just want to put your arms around these guys and go, \u2018You did frigging great. And Wednesday, you\u2019ve got another chance at it.\u2019 That\u2019s as much a part of the game for me as winning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You are, of course, allowed to roll your eyes at the prospect of reading yet another profile of a celebrity NBA fan. And especially a celebrity New York Knicks fan. In contrast, I will now fanboy my socks off because Edie freaking Falco is on the phone. The four-time Emmy Award-winning actress \u2014 the fierce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1977104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1977104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1977104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1977104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1977104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}