The doors to Madison Square Garden opened up, fans lining up to find their way in for the first time in nearly a year. When the fans had made their way to their carefully-curated-for-social-distancing seats, the lights went out at the Garden and Julius Randle stepped to center court, taking the microphone.
"New York, New York what’s up?" Randle said. "We’re finally here. Been a long time coming."
Before he could continue though he had to wait for chants of, "M-V-P, M-V-P," to die down, smiling as he soaked in the sounds that had been missing since March 8, 2020, the last time the Knicks hosted fans.