This weekend brought about the perfect storm for the insomniacs of London. Those in England’s capital may still be adjusting to the late servings of World Cup action but the temptation to pull that all-nighter only grew with another major North American-based sporting event taking place: the NBA Finals.Yellow and red shirts of Brazil and Morocco decorated central London late on Saturday evening. By the early hours of Sunday morning, the Victoria area was dominated by blue and orange in anticipation of the New York Knicks Game 5 triumph against the San Antonio Spurs to win their first championship since 1973.Greenwood, a live sports bar situated opposite Victoria train station in central London, has been building up to this moment for weeks.They first hosted Knicks-specific watch parties attracting around 200 supporters during the team’s Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Philadelphia 76ers in early May. These came through work with The Knicks organisation, which was looking to build a footprint in London.“We joined platforms with the Knicks, NBA Europe and basketball communities in London to reach out to fans,” Hayden Carpenter, of Greenwood London, tells The Athletic. “With each watch party, the anticipation for the next has been insane. And it’s not just American fans either: it’s fans of American sport from the UK, Australia and other places too.”Six weeks later, the demand had tripled to 600 Knicks fans pre-booking space in their establishment — including former Great Britain wheelchair basketball Paralympics gold medalist and TV presenter Ade Adepitan, who was born the same year as the Knicks’ last championship win and started supporting them in the 1990s.