SAN ANTONIO — The New York Knicks are feeling the love from back home, because back home has followed them around the country, from Atlanta to Philly to Cleveland to Texas. An army of blue-and-orange jerseys has executed a series of non-hostile takeovers on the way to a potential NBA championship, because the fans feel exactly what the players, coaches and executives feel.They know this is the ride of a lifetime, the kind that can move you to shout at the top of your lungs one day and to cry tears of joy in solitude the next.As a columnist, I have written about five Yankees championships and two Giants victories in the Super Bowl, but what the Knicks are doing now — winning 12 straight postseason games, including seven straight on the road — is the greatest playoff run I’ve witnessed over four decades in the biz.The 1998 Yanks are the best team that I’ve covered.Super Bowl 42 is the best sporting event involving a local that I’ve covered.But I’ve never seen a New York team this hot, this connected and this cherished by the entire metropolitan area. The old-timers have been waiting for so long to savor another Knicks team that matched the 1970 and ’73 title teams defined by their chemistry, their sacrifice and their joy. The new-timers who don’t really know about Red Holzman and the way things were have adored the all-for-one-and-one-for-all ethos of the 2025-26 Knicks just as much.So, with seemingly half of the city’s population gathered outside Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night to celebrate the Game 1 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the thousands of Knicks fans who poured into Frost Bank Center threw their own watch party on enemy turf. This isn’t a first- or second-round playoff series. This is the NBA Finals.A takeover like this just isn’t supposed to happen in the finals.And the sweeping show of support makes a difference to the players and coaches. A tangible one on the scoreboard.“It’s huge,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “During these games against good teams, especially on the road, you want to find places where you can get energy or a little boost of energy at any given time. To have the type of fans that we do that not only bring energy in the city of New York, on the streets, at MSG, but to have them come and take over a town, take over a hotel, take over an arena and hear them chant, ‘Let’s Go, Knicks’ — or (when) Jalen’s shooting a free throw, ‘M-V-P’ — that gives you a boost that you know you have people supporting you at a pretty high level.”