New York City has always been a hot-ticket town. Once upon a time it was an orchestra seat at the musical “Hamilton,” a Saturday night reservation at Nobu or the first spot in line for a fresh-baked Cronut. But no ticket in the city is hotter right now than a courtside seat for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

It was already nearly impossible to get any ticket to a home game in the N.B.A. finals against the San Antonio Spurs, with even the nosebleed seats starting at just under $2,000 per seat. Getting a spot right on the floor? For regular folk, that requires money, but for those at the intersection of superstar and superfan, courtside seats are most often a gift from the Garden gods.

Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock are perennials. Timothée Chalamet and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, in Instagram-worthy Knicks ’fits are as much a feature of a game as a Jalen Brunson jump shot. And, as always, there is Spike Lee — but unlike many high-wattage spectators, he buys his tickets himself. (That fact comes in handy when he wants to express displeasure with his beloved Knicks; if you want to stay installed for free in the front row, you have to be polite to your host.)

How to get access to these very few prime seats — those spots close enough to the hardwood to risk being bowled over by OG Anunoby diving for a loose ball — is information that the Garden appears unwilling to share. (Multiple requests for comment via email, text message and phone were not returned.)

But with the Knicks on an improbable and magical run — the team has won 11 straight games and is in the finals for the first time in 27 years — the mystique of the courtside seat has re-emerged.