INDIANAPOLIS – Rowdy Knick fans were courtside in Indianapolis again last night – bedeviling Pacer players, who called their own fans turncoats for selling prime seats at top dollar.
“We do it all the time,” said high-flying Knick fan Mark Zborowski, who paid $1,000 for a seat three rows behind the Pacers’ bench.
“It’s a beautiful place,” he said of the Conseco Fieldhouse, “but it doesn’t have the excitement of the Garden.”
Despite Pacer gripes, Knick fans were loud and proud – including Most Visible Fan Spike Lee.
Arthur Luxenberg, who also sat right behind the Pacers’ bench, said there’s a homey quality about Hicksville that was worth the grand it cost him.
“I think it’s a beautiful arena, very zealous fans,” Luxenberg said.
“It’s different than New York. A different atmosphere. New York is more corporate.”
The Knick fan invasion has sparked ire in Indiana.
After last week’s games, Reggie Miller and other teammates complained that a group of Knick fans had managed to snap up prime courtside seats from season-ticket holders.
Pacer owners Melvin and Herb Simon then offered to buy up the prime ducats at scalper prices to keep New Yorkers away.
They said they’d give the tix to underprivileged kids.
But ticket-brokers yesterday said that they hadn’t been contacted by the Pacers – and that they wouldn’t be likely to sell the tickets to the team anyway.
“There’s no advantage in me selling to the Pacers,” said one broker.
“If I sell my tickets back to the Pacers, they’ll know who the season-ticket holder is that I bought the tickets from.
“I want to sell to my regular customers, the guy who also is going to want tickets for the Pacers-Clippers game in December.”