Knicks Fan Rich Is So Happy He’d Even Hug James Dolan (but Not for Too Long)

Rich is so happy because the Knicks just won the NBA title, capping a championship run he calls "unbelievable," and the joy is big enough that he'd even hug owner James Dolan, the longtime target of Knicks fan frustration, just not for very long.

The mood is pure New York euphoria. "The New York Knicks are the champions of the NBA," Rich said, marveling at "what they just did, and how they did it, and how they comported themselves." He ran through the run from his chair with something close to disbelief. It was, as the conversation on set put it, "a wild ride," and Rich kept landing on one word: "Un-believable."

What pushes Rich over the edge into Dolan-hugging territory is how the title got won. He credited head coach Mike Brown after a hiring search Rich had openly questioned. The Knicks had let Tom Thibodeau go "after highly successful playoff seasons, but not close enough," then chased coaches under contract elsewhere before settling on Brown. "And you land on Mike Brown. And I'm like, Really?" Rich admitted. "My God, what a job he did. The man for the moment."

So complete was the turnaround that Rich offered Brown a standing tab. "Your money is no good in New York City anymore," he said. "If I'm ever in that man's restaurant, he's not paying."

Then comes the Dolan line. Rich has clearly spent years frustrated with the Knicks owner, but the championship buys a brief amnesty. "I'm even so happy I would hug James Dolan," he said. Told flatly, "No, you wouldn't," Rich held his ground, sort of. "For a split second." He added, "It wouldn't be a deep hug." And the hug comes with one condition: "And then tell him to let Oakley back in the building."

The grace extends only so far. Rich floated that maybe Dolan stepping back, like George Steinbrenner once did with the Yankees, is what let the team win. "Go take care of your sphere. Let Leon Rose do the rest," he said.

The real heart of it is the city, and Jalen Brunson, who Rich put in rare company. "Brunson is the avatar of exactly what you want your son to be, your star to be." His phone blew up with congratulations, "half of them Mets fans" he usually butts heads with. "Right now, we're all in the same boat. That's what the Knicks do for New York City. That's why the streets are filled like that."