Knicks fan Parteek Katyal of Bethpage had planned to wear an RJ Barrett jersey to Sunday night’s game against the Nets at the Garden. But as he stood in the fourth row from the baseline watching pregame warm-ups, he proudly displayed a No. 24 white Lakers jersey in honor of Kobe Bryant.
“I’ve only worn this jersey twice in my life to any game,” Katyal, 26, told The Post. “That’s when I saw him play here in 2012 and then today. I grew up watching him. I couldn’t stop crying when I heard the news. I started shaking. First you thought it was a basketball tragedy. But it’s a world tragedy.”
News of Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash filled the World’s Most Famous Arena with a heavy sadness that never lifted. The lights on the outer walls of the Garden were colored in purple and gold. Neither head coach, Kenny Atkinson of the Nets nor Mike Miller of the Knicks, took questions before the game, and Nets guard Kyrie Irving was so devastated after receiving a phone call with the terrible news, he couldn’t play. The emotion was raw and real.
“It was like we lost a superhero,” Knicks center Taj Gibson said.
Whenever Bryant performed at the Garden it was a special event. He played his first All-Star Game here in 1998 when, at age 19, he was the youngest All-Star in NBA history; and he later set a then-Garden record by scoring 61 points against the Knicks on Feb. 2, 2009. His final appearance as a player here came in November 2015. Bryant hadn’t officially announced his retirement, but the Garden showed him plenty of love with thunderous ovations throughout the game.
“I don’t think you understand how much I watched this building growing up,” Bryant said that night. “[Walt] Frazier and [Earl] Monroe and all those teams. I was truly a fan watching all these games. To be able to come here and have the performances I’ve had. I feel very fortunate.”
The Garden showed him love again Sunday night. Before the game, the 18-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion, was given a moment of silence as the public address announcer noted the “multiple iconic moments” Bryant enjoyed at the Garden.
Then the players paid tribute. In a scene repeated throughout the league, after the Nets retrieved the opening tip, both teams were virtually motionless during back-to-back 24-second violations as the crowd offered a “Ko-be … Ko-be” chant. It was a classy gesture.
So were the Lakers jerseys that dotted the crowd. Katyal, a banker, has the Knicks logo tattooed on his forearm. But his favorite player has always been Bryant.
“In my eyes he’s always going to be the greatest player of all time because that’s who I grew up on,” Katyal said. “I didn’t get to see Michael Jordan play. All I know is Kobe.”
The Knicks would win the game, 110-97, but there were no celebrations in the Knicks locker room. Julius Randle, who played with Bryant in Los Angeles, left before speaking to the media. Others talked in whispers. “Everyone is still in shock,” Gibson said.
Fans were in shock, too. Joey Kassin, 12, of New Jersey, was with his father Ezra wearing a purple No. 24 jersey.
“The news hit him pretty hard,” the elder Kassin said of his son’s reaction to Bryant’s death. “We’ve been talking about it the whole time.”
“He was just a great player,” Joey Kassin said. “I just liked watching him.”
Hannah De Kretser, 14, and her brothers, Nathan, 20, and Lachlan, 18, traveled from Melbourne, Australia, to catch the Knicks games with the Lakers and Sunday’s game against the Nets. Hannah was wearing Bryant’s No. 8 Lakers jersey, something she had brought with her from Australia.
“It’s a sign of respect for Kobe Bryant’s passing,” she said. “My brothers and I grew up watching him. He’s why we love basketball.”
Bryant once called the Garden “a second home.” Sunday night the Garden felt like it lost one of its own.