Dennis Vargas has, he said, been called many things in his life.
“Deis” is not one of them.
“My name is Dennis, and I need two N’s,” Mr. Vargas, a 34-year-old train operator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said as he stood among the surge of Knicks fans aspiring to acquire customized jerseys at the N.B.A. Store on Fifth Avenue.
For reasons that remained mysterious, the store had no “N’s” left in its mercantile vocabulary. So, there would be no “Dennis” jersey. Nor, for that matter, “Deis.”
Ahead of Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals, the store could take only so much Knicks fever.
The N.B.A. Store has served as ground zero for licensed Knicks merchandise throughout the playoffs, and it has absorbed an even more frenzied crowd since the Knicks claimed a third victory in the best-of-seven championship series on Wednesday.
As for merchandise for their opponent, the San Antonio Spurs? Not so much.
At one point on Thursday, a worker at the store began bellowing: “No more Brunson! No more Towns! No more Hart!” referring to three of the Knicks’ stars, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart. Instead, the worker directed a throng of customers to a meager collection of leftover retro jerseys before rushing away to organize some stray items.
A coveted finals patch that can be applied to merchandise is a big draw, and Mr. Vargas said that he planned to return to the store with his girlfriend to get patches for jerseys they already own.
“It is absolutely necessary,” said Kevelyn Vargas, Mr. Vargas’s girlfriend and a graphic designer.
The Knicks faithful arrived at the store in all manner of attire, some in suits, others in basketball shorts. Michael Moore, 34, ran in during the work day but left because the line was too long. He came back in the evening. There was still a line, just shorter. The thrill of the team’s back-from-the-dead victory in Game 4 drew him to the store.
“The magic of that moment made me come back in and get more merch to rep the city,” said Mr. Moore, a lawyer.
Even as the official purveyors of team-branded merchandise struggled to keep goods on the shelf, the street-corner merchants of New York City had begun peddling their unofficial versions of Knicks couture.
For some New Yorkers, getting crafty with Knicks merchandise has been its own pursuit: Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters wore handmade shirts for Game 4. For Jordy Vergara, 26, his quest to locate a jersey, and finding only a T-shirt, inspired a D.I.Y. hack: He would shear the sleeves off and — voilà! — have himself a jersey.
“I’m desperately trying to find a Knicks jersey, as is, apparently, everyone else,” said Mr. Vergara, who works in consulting.
Before coming to the brick-and-mortar N.B.A. Store, he had tried to order a jersey on DoorDash. No luck. Mr. Vergara moved on to a collection of T-shirts on the ground floor, where mostly larger sizes were left.
(The N.B.A. Store did not immediately reply to questions.)
Stephanie Arevalo, a 28-year-old who works for a nonprofit, was surprised at how many clothing items were available only in sizes 2X and 3X. But she acknowledged there was a reason she had waited so long to lay her hands on merchandise at the store.
“It kept feeling like there was a possibility it wasn’t going to be that important,” she said. “And now that there’s a really real chance, it feels like I’m long overdue.”
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