As soon as Eric Tom landed in San Antonio on Tuesday afternoon, the longtime Queens, N.Y., resident raced to baggage claim, threw down his carry-on and stripped off his shirt.
He ignored the perplexed glances from other passengers to proudly don a 27-year-old white T-shirt, a souvenir from when the New York Knicks last faced the San Antonio Spurs in the 1999 N.B.A. championship and lost (something he did not forget).
Then, for good measure, he threw on a blue Knicks jersey.
“It’s Knicks time,” he proclaimed. “Revenge!”
Mr. Tom, 60, a certified financial planner, and his wife, Mary Ann, 70, were among the first wave of rabid Knicks fans — from Spike Lee to a New Jersey pizza shop owner — sojourning to San Antonio to seek out a remedy for the fever that has infected New York City this N.B.A. season.
“It is going to be an invasion — Knicks fans have been traveling for these playoffs,” Mr. Lee said, raising his voice to a shout when reached Monday afternoon. “We are bringing orange and blue skies to San Antonio!”
Mr. Lee, the famed filmmaker who has been a Knicks season ticket holder since the team landed Patrick Ewing in the draft lottery in 1985, told The New York Times that he planned to travel to San Antonio on Wednesday for Game 1 of the championship as part of a contingent of fellow superfans who plan to fill two private jets.
The early arrivals from New York unsurprisingly predicted their team’s victory over the Spurs, who opened the season with a roughly 50 percent chance of making it to the playoffs. On the eve of the first game against the Knicks, the team, led by Victor Wembanyama, was four wins away from taking home its sixth N.B.A. championship trophy.
Those odds were not lost on Ron Nirenberg, the popular former mayor of San Antonio and a candidate for county judge, who teased the incoming visitors in an Instagram video.
“Here in San Antonio, Bexar County, we are a welcoming and inclusive community,” Mr. Nirenberg said. He paused, then added: “But not this week. Keep your tickets out of the hands of New Yorkers, and go Spurs, go.”
Jack Settleman, a popular sports influencer who is known for posting Knicks-related content, said he was elated to receive a surprise invitation from Delta Air Lines, the official airline of the New York Knicks, to fly in a chartered plane to join the likes of Mr. Lee at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
“It’s surreal — you almost can’t believe that the Knicks are in the finals, and so, getting to see them play, I’m very lucky,” said Mr. Settleman, the chief executive of the digital media company Snapback Sports.
Other Knicks fans already in town shared his excitement. James Sherry, 29, from Long Island, said he had decided to make a quick trip before returning to the East Coast for his grandmother’s 100th birthday this weekend.
“Sure, the Spurs have done well so far,” he said, “but they are the ones who should be nervous.”
Matt Ferazzoli, a pizza shop owner from New Jersey and a father of three, had one message for Spurs fans: “Good luck.” Mr. Ferazzoli said he had secured seats in the 200s row for a reasonable price: “I may upgrade.”
Some of the cheapest tickets in San Antonio for Game 1 were around $800 each on Tuesday evening, while a seat toward the back of Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks, for Game 3 was more than $4,000 on resale sites.
“I’m just here for the fun,” Mr. Ferazzoli added. “I think we are going to lose one, but we are going all the way.”
Mr. Tom, the man who stripped off his shirt at the airport, said he last visited San Antonio in 1999 when the two teams faced off. This visit felt different, he said.
“You guys got a once-in-a-lifetime player, but hopefully he’s still young, that we can beat him this time,” he said, referring to Mr. Wembanyama.
Some Spurs fans weren’t so sure.
Blanca Aranda, 51, a marketing analyst from San Antonio, shook her head when hearing about the Knicks fans’ predictions.
“Everybody is talking smack, but the Spurs are going to take it,” Ms. Aranda said. “We are the underdogs. We beat them in 1999 and we will beat them again.”
Mr. Lee has a healthy respect for the Spurs; he said he was good friends with Gregg Popovich, the president of basketball operations for the team. He keeps a game-worn jersey signed by Mr. Wembanyama in his private collection in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
As he’s done for decades, Mr. Lee said, he will be dressed in Knicks orange and blue “for luck.”
“We are not coming down to do any shenanigans, skulduggery or subterfuge,” he said. “We are not playing around, this ain’t no joke — we are coming down to do business.”
Edgar Sandoval covers Texas for The Times, with a focus on the Latino community and the border with Mexico. He is based in San Antonio.
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