Knicks opening night blog: Raising the NBA championship banner then playing against LeBron James

Josh Hart rocking the Larry O'Brien Trophy braids

Knicks hang NBA Cup banner after all

When the Knicks won the NBA Cup last season and were asked about marking the triumph with a championship banner to hang in the Garden. The team’s position was that it was not something to do because the quest is for a championship banner.

Tonight they are hanging a championship banner and the one marking the NBA Cup title is already up also.

Knicks coach Mike Brown was asked about it and said he hadn’t taken a look at it yet.

But he added: “It’s just a recognition of what our journey was like last year. There were a lot of ups and down throughout the course of the year. Our guys rallied and figured out a way to win the NBA Cup and then you go ahead and win the regular season final . . . . It’s just a recognition, not just to our guys, but to the fans out there. Again, we’ve got fantastic fans and to be able to show a little love to them is pretty neat.”

Orange and blue skies: Empire State Building lit up in Knicks' colors

Sneak peek of what the Knicks' jerseys will look like tonight

Knicks arrive at MSG for the season opener

Videos: The scenes inside and outside the Garden

LeBron to wear special jersey patch each game of his 24th season

A sight that hasn’t been too frequent among waves of Knicks fans outside the Garden: a 76ers jersey.

This fan is repping the newest 76er and all-time great LeBron James, who will be debuting with Philadelphia on Tuesday and sporting a 24th season jersey patch each game to go in 1-of-1 Topps cards.

Knicks fans ready for 'off the chain' vibes

The excitement is building for Knicks fans heading to the Garden as the 6:30 p.m. festivities approach.

Copiague’s Roger Johnson is expecting the vibe to be “off the chain.”

Amityville’s Jennifer Felice said fans are “still riding that wave” from last year’s NBA Finals and the last time they won was in 1973 — the year she was born.

Huntington’s Patrick O’Brien, 28, said he had never seen a championship from any of his favorite teams before the Knicks won in June.

Seeing them actually raise a championship banner,” he said, “that’s going to be crazy.”

Doors open at 5:30

For the 19,000 or so fans with tickets to tonight's season opener, the doors to MSG open at 5:30 p.m. The Knicks are encouraging all ticket holders to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m., since that's when the ceremony begins, and the rest of us can watch on NBC and Peacock.

'Nah, man – Gracie Mansion'

I am paired with Newsday Knicks beat writer Steve Popper for tonight's event: raising the NBA championship banner, the distribution of the championship rings and the season opener against Philadelphia. We had the pleasure of riding up in one of the Garden elevators with Walt “Clyde” Frazier.

Frazier was on the Knicks’ title teams in 1970 and 1973 and Popper inquired to Frazier about whether those championship teams had festivities like the ones planned for tonight at 6:30 p.m., before the 7 p.m. tip-off.

“Nah, man – Gracie Mansion,” Frazier replied.

So apparently Frazier’s Knicks teams were celebrated at the home of Mayor John V. Lindsay.

New Knicks signage around Penn Station and Madison Square Garden

A new touch outside Madison Square Garden: this Champions Plaza sign on West 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue. The sign includes logos of the reigning NBA champion Knicks and the Rangers, though not St. John’s.

The Knicks-themed 34 Street-Penn Station subway stop from the team’s Finals run is inside the LIRR at Penn Station, too.

You know 'Champions Night' is gonna have free T-shirts

Confirmed!

How to watch tonight's ceremony and game

If you weren't able to pay quadruple digits for tickets to be at Madison Square Garden tonight, fret not: you'll still be able to catch both the Knicks' championship ceremony and the season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers on TV and streaming.

The ring ceremony, banner raising and game will be aired on NBC and Peacock beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. NBC Sports coordinating producer Frank DiGraci told Newsday's Anthony Rieber last week that the network plans to air the pregame festivities in their entirety.

"Our goal is 100% to capture the emotion, the energy, everything that goes with the banner ceremony and the ring ceremony," DiGraci said.

The ceremony should last about 15 to 20 minutes, DiGraci said. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Here's what awaits the Knicks after the festivities

When the Knicks are celebrated one more time Tuesday night, it will be for the long-awaited championship but maybe more than a little bit because of what the team was like — a group that fit together as a sum greater than its parts.

And the first test of that notion will come against what resembles a fantasy basketball team in the Philadelphia 76ers, a team stacked with star power on paper that is the envy of every front office.

Philadelphia now boasts LeBron James, arguably the greatest player in NBA history, with 22 All-Star Game appearances, four MVP awards, the most points ever and a six-time Defensive Player of the Year. And at 41 years old, he might be the weak link in the starting five for Philadelphia. There is Joel Embiid, with an MVP award of his own; Jaylen Brown, who captured an Eastern Conference Finals MVP and an NBA Finals MVP two years ago in Boston; Tyrese Maxey, who was an All-Star for the first time last season; and VJ Edgecombe, an All-Rookie selection last season.

The Knicks have no MVP award winners and just two players who have ever been an all-star.

What the Knicks have is a team that works together, a team that found a way through a historic postseason run to produce different heroes nearly every night. With nearly the entire rotation back, minus only Mitchell Robinson, and a healthy roster to start the season, the Knicks swap those awards and honors for familiarity and teamwork.

“You look at it a couple of different ways,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “The 76ers added perennial All-Stars, and at the end of the day (former San Antonio coach Greg Popovich) used to always say you need three perennial All-Stars to win a championship. And technically, we did it with two.

“So we don’t have as many quote-unquote perennial All-Stars as them. So people look at it as them having an advantage over us instead of the other way around. Same with Boston. They added Mitch (Robinson). And they have Paul George and Jayson Tatum still. So you could say, yeah, your core has been together so you guys will do better early on. Or you can say, well they got six All-Stars. At the end of the day, we have to play the right way to get a win regardless if our core has been together for a long time.”

Philadelphia has the sting of the Knicks eliminating them two seasons in a row. And they now have James, who has openly stated he would have signed with the Knicks if they hadn’t won the title.

“Obviously you look at it on paper, that’s a helluva group,” Landry Shamet said. “We know that and I think that’s why a lot of our focus has to be on that. The ring and the celebration have to be secondary because it is our job, and it is 0-0 and we’re here. None of us are satisfied with going home with just this championship."