He didn’t have home court advantage, but still won.
Diehard Knicks fan Joseph DeSimone popped the question to his girlfriend Erica Vann on the Kiss Cam in Oklahoma City as the team took on the Thunder in a clash of NBA heavyweights last Friday.
The Lower East Side native made the bold move while in enemy territory — getting down on one knee at the Paycom Center — and donning a Knicks shirt.
“I took a chance, because I could have gotten booed on the Jumbotron when they saw my shirt,” DeSimone, 37, told The Post.
“But the fans were cheering like the Thunder hit a three-pointer or just made the game-winning shot. There was a lot of love, even after the proposal. People were walking past us, saying, ‘Congratulations.’”
The couple, who are both US Postal Service employees in Oklahoma City, met in 2023, after DeSimone moved there.
Vann, 33, “had no intentions of dating” DeSimone when a coworker suggested the Oklahoma native show him around.
But on their second excursion, he made his move.
“There was a booth and I sat on the same side as her,” he recalled. “And she was a little shocked and was like, ‘Oh, I guess this is a date.’”
DeSimone bought tickets to the game months before he planned to propose.
“I wanted to see the Knicks play in Oklahoma City,” he said.
“And then I just had an awakening one day and was like, ‘You know this girl is really for me. Let me see how I can propose at the game.’”
Although DeSimone had asked for her ring size two months prior, Vann was still left shocked — especially since they weren’t on the best terms that night.
“We were actually going to be very late and were kind of mad at each other,” she recalled.
“So I was driving fast,” DeSimone added. “She was kind of upset with me and wondering why I was so adamant about getting there.”
The groom-to-be was nervous about getting the radiant-cut sparkler in his pocket into the arena — muttering, “Please don’t go off,” to himself as he walked through the metal detectors.
So when security stopped him, he was even more stressed.
“I thought it was for the ring, but he wanted me to take off my belt.”
The proposal happened at the end of the first quarter, and after they smooched on the Kiss Cam, Vann said, “it all happened so fast.”
“Then I’m looking at him and a ring in the Jumbotron and was like, ‘Oh my God.’ And I kept telling him, ‘I’m going to throw up,’” she said.
“I think I just said, ‘You gonna marry me or what?”’ DeSimone recalled.
“And then she nodded her head. In the video, I’m tapping her arm because I’m like, ‘Give me your finger.’ Cause I couldn’t stay down there for that long.”