The Knicks Won & New Yorkers Are Hornier Than Ever

Last week, Maija was on a first date that took an unexpected turn. The 24-year-old Brooklyn-based writer was watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals at a bar with her Hinge match, rooting for the New York Knicks, and the team was struggling. “Halfway through, he was like, ‘I can’t make it through the second half,’” she says. “He just got up and left.”

Another guy noticed. “He came up to me and was like, ‘Is this seat taken?’” she says. They started talking, and although Maija’s team lost that night, she still scored something — a date. They plan to go out after she returns from vacation in Italy.

When the NBA Finals began in June, the Knicks were suffering a 53-year drought and hadn’t played in the series since 1999. As they advanced through the best-of-seven, however, the Big Apple’s energy surged with hope, and when the team defeated the San Antonio Spurs to clinch the championship on June 13, the city exploded in pure ecstasy. New Yorkers temporarily shrugged off their cynicism to flood the streets and belt out “Empire State of Mind.”

Love and basketball have long gone hand in hand. As Samantha Jones lamented during Season 2 of Sex and the City, “I don’t get laid unless the Knicks win.” Kylie Jenner — a courtside regular with Timothée Chalamet — reposted that clip on TikTok after her team lost to the Spurs in Game 3. Luckily for Kylie and the rest of New York, Jalen Brunson and co. ultimately took home the title. As a happy side effect, New York’s notoriously difficult dating scene has also been rejuvenated, with singles taking a page from their hometown team to shoot their shot.

“Normally I get about 30 or 40 Hinge likes a day. Now I’m getting over 100,” Maija says. She’s also had two men slide into her DMs: one stranger who subscribes to her Substack and an ex-flame, her former co-worker. “I’m honestly overwhelmed.”

Dating app usage tends to surge during major local sporting events, and offline, the combination of team spirit and alcohol has led to plenty of meet-cutes. “People are really eager to meet people in real life and be off their phones, but they don’t know how to do it,” says Victoria, a 29-year-old copywriter and comedian in Manhattan. “Sports just provide you with a sense of community.”

There’s also no need to overthink the pickup line. “At the bar, we would just be like, ‘Oh, what players do you like? Blah, blah, blah, blah, Jalen Brunson,’” says Kay, a 27-year-old digital marketer and creator in Manhattan (who’s in a relationship but was approached by several guys while watching the series).

A genuine interest in basketball is optional. “Straight men are quite simple,” Victoria says. “They love sports, and I’m like, ‘I don’t care, but I support you.’”

For some die-hard fans, the lead-up to the series was tense. Victoria’s friend Syd, 31, happened to have a first date at a cocktail bar on May 25, the same night as the Eastern Conference championship. After her Hinge match caught her checking the score several times, he offered to relocate to a dive bar so they could watch the game. Soon after, the Knicks had a blowout victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, securing their spot in the Finals. “We kissed when they won,” Syd says.

Though she hasn’t seen him since (they had little in common), her devotion to OG Anunoby has been ruling her love life. “I truly refused to go on a date last week, because what if we had to play another game?” she says.

The night of Game 3, while visiting friends and family in LA, Syd finagled a coveted invitation to Magic Castle, a members-only club for magicians and their fans. To respect the venue’s strict dress code, she wore a beaded gown — topped with a Knicks hat, of course. She snapped a photo and promptly put it on her Hinge profile. “That’s gotten a lot of comments,” she says.

Syd watched Game 5 at a dive on Staten Island. “A friend of a friend brought some boys from his MBA program, and I hit it off with one of them really quickly,” she says, partly thanks to having an easy conversation starter. “I don’t know if the banter would’ve been that good on a dating app.”

They stuck together all night. “I was screaming players’ names. I was stressed. He was very nice,” she says. When the Knicks won, they locked eyes and hugged.

The fun continued on the ferry back to Manhattan, where Syd was singing and turning cartwheels (“It’s kind of my signature thing,” she says). They went to another bar, and at the end of the night, he walked her to the subway. The next morning, he texted, “So great meeting you, Knicks in five.” He wasn’t any old suitor — he actually proposed concrete plans, complete with a date, a time, and a location. “Very gentlemanly,” Syd says. Their first date is Thursday night.

But he’ll have plenty of competition. Since the big win, old matches have been circling back. “In conversations that had kind of fizzled out, everyone was like, ‘Knicks in five, how are you feeling?’” she says.

Beyond apps and bars, the city is rife with opportunities to flirt. When Victoria recently wore team merch on her way to work, strangers kept making cheery comments about her T-shirt. “It’s the subway — we’re not here to chat,” she says. “But also, if the person who shouts, ‘Go Knicks!’ next to you is cute, you should probably do something about it.”

Jacqueline Simeone, a 30-year-old creator in Manhattan, is feeling intensely optimistic. She’s been encouraging her single followers to capitalize on Knicks fever. “This moment in New York is an absolute layup in terms of dating,” she tells Bustle.

In a TikTok posted the day before the Finals, she said, “This weekend is a gift served on a silver platter put in your lap. The French gifted us the Statue of Liberty. Wemby is gifting all of New York husbands.”