The Knicks will trip their luck all the best way to the NBA Finals, in response to their luckiest fan.
Manhattan basketball coach Castelli “Stelli” Laflotte, 34, is aware of a factor or two about having a sizzling hand.
He drained an epic half-court shot at a Knicks sport in January, successful $1,000 money and a brand new Kia SUV.
“I think luck is when hard work meets opportunity. If you’re preparing and grinding, when the opportunity comes you’re ready for it,” Laflotte advised The Put up.
“Knicks are going to win on Wednesday night and we’re going to the conference finals.”
After knocking out the Detroit Pistons in six video games within the first spherical of the playoffs, the Knicks are taking over the defending champion Boston Celtics within the Jap Convention semi-finals.
After roaring again from 20-point deficits to take the primary two video games in Beantown, the Knicks lead the collection 3-1, and are only one win away from their first convention championship look since 2000.
They’ll face off once more in Boston Wednesday evening earlier than returning to the Backyard on Friday, ought to the collection go to a sport 6.
The semifinals have made for white-knuckle watching from the sting of Laflotte’s sofa in Yonkers, however not fairly as nerve-wracking as taking pictures in entrance of a packed Madison Sq. Backyard, when his arms went numb from panic.
“That half-court shot was probably the most nerve-wracking thing ever,” Laflotte stated.
He added: “Beforehand you’re simply standing within the tunnel panicking, like, ‘please God, don’t embarrass your self.’
“When I was taking the first four shots that lead into it, I literally couldn’t feel my hands. I was just shooting off muscle memory.”
Whereas the Knicks have been on a heater since Coach Stelli’s heroics, the staff has truly misplaced each video games Laflotte has seen in particular person this yr — together with the sport in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves when he made the half-court shot.
For the Knicks’ sake, the lifelong fan will preserve watching from house along with his son Cameron, 3.
“They lost that match when I made the shot. That was Julius Randle’s return to Madison Square Garden. Then they won like every game after that,” he stated.
“I just went to game three (of the semifinals) where we lost by like 40. I went to that game and I was like maybe I should just stay home and watch them because they do good when I’m at home watching.”
Coach Stelli was filled with reward for the Knicks sticking to the basics and placing their our bodies on the road.
“It’s been great watching them grind and work and succeed against teams people claim are better,” Laflotte stated.
“We’re going to grind every single team out. The Knicks play their starters a lot and they grind you away.”
Laflotte received a 2025 Kia Telluride within the half-court competitors. He appreciated it a lot that his spouse Ashley is now driving one, too.
“We had a 2013 Honda Accord and my Jeep Grand Cherokee from 2017. However the Jeep had like 150,000 miles on it as a result of I drive for work daily and it was beginning to have numerous issues.
“We won the one car and then I asked ‘hey, if we trade in both of these cars, any chance we can get a second one?’”
When he isn’t placing up brand 3s in entrance of tens of 1000’s of screaming followers for money and prizes at MSG, Laflotte coaches children at Marlene Meyerson JCC on the Higher East Facet and Riverside Park, and is the athletics director on the Rudolf Steiner College.
