The New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals. I need you to understand that I have been waiting for this sentence my entire adult life.

Twenty-seven years. The Knicks haven’t played for a championship since 1999, when a 23-year-old Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs beat them in five. I was three. I have no memory of it. My dad has been texting me about it all week like it was yesterday, sending me grainy YouTube clips of Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell and telling me “this is what it felt like.” Cool, dad. Very helpful. I was eating crayons.

And now (NOW) the Knicks get the Spurs again. Same franchise. Same city. Except instead of Tim Duncan they have a 7-foot-4 alien from France who just won Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous WCF MVP and might genuinely be the best basketball player alive at 22 years old.

I am thrilled and I am terrified and I cannot stop pacing around my apartment. Revis (the dog, not the cornerback) is concerned.

Here’s the thing that’s making me insane. The Knicks have won 11 straight playoff games. Eleven! They swept Cleveland by an average of 19 points per game. The overall postseason margin is +23.8. Brunson won ECF MVP unanimously. KAT is playing the best basketball of his life. This team is a freight train that has not lost since the first round.

And I’m sitting here looking at Victor Wembanyama’s playoff stat line (26.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 blocks per game) and thinking: none of it matters. Eleven wins means nothing. The margin means nothing. You cannot prepare for a human being who is seven feet four inches tall and moves like a guard and just casually erased Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a Game 7.

The Spurs are favored at -196 on FanDuel. Knicks are +4.5 in Game 1. Vegas looked at our 11-game win streak and said “yeah but have you seen the tall guy.” And honestly? Fair.

The 1999 parallels are wild enough to make you superstitious. Duncan was 23 then. Wembanyama is 22 now. The Spurs won their first championship that year. This could be Wemby’s first. The Knicks were a feel-good underdog story in ‘99 (the eight seed!) and they’re the underdog again despite winning every game by a thousand points.

Mitchell Robinson has a broken pinky that nobody will explain. The Knicks won’t say how it happened. Not in practice. Not in a game. Just vibes. Very reassuring when your rim protector needs to match up with Victor Wembanyama and his 8-foot wingspan. Mitch had surgery and says he’ll play Wednesday. Brother, please.

If the Spurs win, it’s an eighth different NBA champion in eight years — Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics, Thunder, and then San Antonio. That’s an NBA record. And if the Knicks win, it’s also an eighth different champion. Either way, history. But only one version of history involves me crying on my fire escape in Hoboken at midnight, and I need that version.

Game 1 is Wednesday, June 3. San Antonio. 8:30 PM on ABC. Brunson is four wins from proving everyone wrong about what a 6-2 point guard can do in June. The Knicks won the NBA Cup against these same Spurs earlier this season. That has to count for something. (It probably doesn’t count for anything.)

I have been a Knicks fan for 23 years and this is the first time it has ever meant something. I am not okay. Let’s go.