NEW YORK — Get ready, Manhattan, even you haven’t seen anything quite like this.Cometh Monday, the sporting world descends upon Midtown for its first NBA Finals game in 27 years. It’s been a while, New York, but you’ve done this part before.How about, adding to it, a sitting U.S. president attending the finals for the first time? And not just any president, but Donald J. Trump, himself a bombastic New Yorker, at the invitation of New York Knicks owner James Dolan, requiring security protocols never before seen for a finals game?Along with that, throw in record ticket prices for the finals. Also, the man most likely to be the next proverbial “Face of the NBA,” Victor Wembanyama, is playing his first road finals game, at the Garden, considered to be the world’s most famous basketball arena. With his Spurs facing a 2-0 series deficit.Finally, the Knicks, the New York freaking Knicks, are just two wins away from their first championship since 1973.No, no one from 42nd Street down to the Bowery can say they’ve ever seen anything quite like it.“We got to be desperate for these fans,” said Knicks star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who grew up just outside of the city in New Jersey. “Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden. For this to be the first game in a long time that they have seen finals basketball, it’s up to us to bring it, give ’em something to cheer for, give ’em something to get loud for and also give ’em something to believe in.”The fans will have paid through the nose to get inside MSG, and they will only basically be bringing themselves and, so long as it fits in their back pockets, their wallets.The cheapest ticket prices on the secondary market for Game 3 were over $6,000 as of Sunday afternoon, according to StubHub, and lower bowl prices were approaching $90,000.The Knicks, at the behest of the U.S. Secret Service, are enforcing a strict no-bag policy for all fans, asking them to bring the bare minimum and strongly encouraging them to show up two hours before Monday’s 8:30 p.m. tip-off to go through airport-like security. The Knicks said the city permitting office also denied permits for a watch party outside Madison Square Garden, and the city will erect a security perimeter where only patrons with tickets or NBA Finals credentials can enter. The New York Police said watch parties will be held in undetermined locations.“I kind of wish the ticket prices weren’t as crazy as they are,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “I feel like a lot of people who have been waiting for this moment for a very long time unfortunately aren’t able to get into the building, when the cheapest ticket is 7 or 8,000 dollars. So that’s ridiculous. But it’s just going to be rocking. But obviously I wish those were a little cheaper.”A handful of players were asked about Trump’s likely attendance, and most of them spoke around the issue. O.G. Anunoby, the only player on the Knicks roster with a championship, said, “I think he will just be there watching the game. We’re just going to go as usual and play our game and try to win the game.”The Knicks have won 13 straight — the second longest playoff winning streak in NBA history. They took the first two games of this series in San Antonio, first with a 14-point comeback in the second half of Game 1, and then surviving the Spurs’ 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter of Game 2. Teams that win the first two games of the finals have gone on to be champions 32 out of 37 times.The last team to blow a 2-0 lead in a finals, the Phoenix Suns in 2021, had Mikal Bridges on their team. He is now enjoying an excellent series for the Knicks.“I just remember losing four straight,” said Bridges, who is averaging 14.5 points through two games. “That’s what I remember out of that. … It’s always going to stick with (me).”Jalen Brunson is the Knicks’ leading scorer through two finals games at 25.0 ppg. He said he is not allowing himself to look up along the city’s sidewalks and see or feel the energy of the moment. Hart said if he’s going out to eat for dinner, he’s trying to get into a private room — just to shield himself from any distractions.The Garden was still somewhat of a circus on Sunday anyway, a practice day for both teams. Actor Ben Stiller, walking around in a ball cap, was part of the sessions. Rapper Fat Joe sat in the news conferences for the Knicks and asked questions of coach Mike Brown and Brunson, who, unlike his coach, basically ignored “Fat Joe” by saying “hi, Joe,” as he walked off the podium.“A great day for me today,” Brown said. “For the first time I got a chance to meet Ben Stiller. … I actually gave him a handshake and a hug. I got my man Fat Joe sitting in the back. This is a great day for Mike Brown.”Wembanyama, meanwhile, said the atmosphere at the Garden “could be” a distraction, but “isolating myself is something I’ve practiced over the years. I think I’m good at it.“This is similar to something media-wise like the Olympics,” added Wembanyama, who is leading the Spurs with 27.5 points per game.No team in NBA history, regardless of the round, has recovered from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series. So Game 3 is, for all intents and purposes, a must-win for the Spurs. They come to the Garden believing they had opportunities to win the first two games, but are readying themselves for the weightiness of what awaits them Monday night.The biggest city in the United States, with arguably the sport’s most passionate fans, is anticipating its first home finals game in several generations, with the president on hand, and the Spurs have no choice but to find a way to win.“I think there’s enough at stake that we’ll treat it appropriately,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I think there will obviously be a ton of excitement around the game. This arena’s like no other. The added circumstances will be on top of that.”