Barbara Barker: Try as they might, Joel Embiid and the 76ers can't stop Knicks fans from seeing their team in Philadelphia
Knicks fans during a watch party outside Madison Square Garden for Game 5 against the Atlanta Hawks on April 28. Credit: Ed Quinn
GREENBURGH — Sorry, Joel Embiid.
It appears that many fans in the City of Brotherly Love are more in love with collecting Benjamins than they are in showing up to support their team in the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks.
After playing a monster game Saturday to propel the 76ers to a historic comeback over the Celtics, Embiid pleaded with his team’s fans not to sell their tickets to the next round — especially not to Knicks fans.
“I just have a message for our fans,” he said as his team prepared for a rematch of their playoff series from two years ago.
“Last time we played the Knicks, it felt like this was Madison Square Garden East. We’re going to need the support. Don’t sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys.”
The plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
Just as they did two years ago, Knicks fans are braving the trip down the New Jersey Turnpike and snapping up tickets that are a fraction of the price of those at Madison Square Garden. As of Sunday night, the get-in price on StubHub for Friday’s Game 3 was $410.
Want to spend Mother’s Day watching the Knicks in Philly? The least expensive ticket was $490.
Compare that to prices for the Boston-Philadelphia first-round series. The get-in price for Game 6, a possible elimination game, was $110 on StubHub.
The 76ers’ organization has tried to do what it can to keep out Knicks fans.
When the 76ers put tickets on sale Sunday, they included terms designed to keep them away from Knicks fans. A disclaimer on the team’s website said that “sales to this event will be restricted to residents of the Greater Philadelphia area. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside the Greater Philadelphia area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
Julie Moss Silver, a diehard Knicks fan from Huntington, found ways to get around that by meeting a Knicks fan who lives in Philadelphia on Facebook on Sunday. The fan bought them two tickets six rows from the court for $528 each. A ticket in a comparable section in the sixth row at Madison Square Garden for Monday’s game was going for $1,456.
Silver, who works in real estate, thinks Embiid challenged Knicks fans with his speech after the game.
“He would have been better off not saying anything,” Silver said. “You tell a Knick fan they can’t do something and they will show up 10 times over.”
Knicks forward Josh Hart, who played his college ball for Villanova, a suburb of Philadelphia, said he expects to see a sea of Knicks jerseys in Games 3 and 4, just as he did in the Knicks’ first-round series against the 76ers two years ago.
“Knicks fans travel. They are probably the best fans in the NBA in terms of traveling and going to games,” Hart said after practice on Sunday. “Might be cheaper to do that than to go to the Garden. That’s our fans. They love New York and basketball and are passionate about it. We need them to come out and support home games, but obviously on the road.’’
He doesn’t think anyone will be deterred by Embiid’s pleas or the 76ers’ policies.
“Good things about New Yorkers, they are persistent,” he said. “They are going to do it, man. For a lot of people, everything revolves around money. If they have the tickets, they are going to sell them. New Yorkers are passionate about the Knicks. They are going to come out and show up.”
Embiid was vocal about the same issue two years ago. He said it was “disappointing” that there were so many Knicks fans for the 76ers’ Game 4 loss.
“Obviously, you got a lot of Knicks fans, and they’re down the road, and I’ve never seen it, and I’ve been here for 10 years,” Embiid said then. “Yeah, it kind of [ticks] me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town. They’ve always shown up, and I don’t think that should happen. Yeah. It’s not OK.”
But it’s still going to happen.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
