By day, Rohit Thawani is a creative director and writer in Los Angeles. He’s won numerous awards in his field and has even been nominated for an Emmy. Catch him on a night that the Knicks are playing, and you will see a different side of him. He’s a diehard fan who watches games alongside hundreds of other transplants at 33 Taps in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
With his team facing a 3-1 deficit headed into Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday, Thawani was desperate enough for a win that he made an impulse purchase — a spell from a witch to help the Knicks play well. They came through with a 111-94 win, and they may have had Thawani to thank.
Thawani was waiting for a Zoom meeting to start on Thursday afternoon, wearing his Knicks hat and sharing his feelings of nervousness. One of his co-workers, Sarah Newton, asked him if he had tried anything to help the team win. When he told her that he had not, she asked if he had talked to a witch.
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“I’m like, yeah, I wish I could find a witch real quick,” Thawani recounted to Sporting News.
Newton told him that she thought Etsy might have some witches.
“About 45 seconds later, I sent a screenshot as our meeting was starting for the larger group. I was like, ‘Did it,’ then posted it on Twitter and Reddit.”
Knicks fans – I just paid a witch on Etsy to cast a spell to help us win game 5 tonight. I’m doing my part. pic.twitter.com/aAI0UtpJur
— Rohit Thawani (@vohit4rohit) May 29, 2025
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Who is Etsy witch AuroraPriestess?
There were several witches on Etsy that Thawani could choose from. He revealed his thought process on picking AuroraPriestess, who lists herself as a psychic reader, ritual master and powerful witch out of Wembley, United Kingdom.
“I didn’t have time to research because the meeting was starting.”
“I went with the one that showed up highest and was most affordable, because she offered a BLESSINGS2025 60 percent off discount. It was a cool $8.48, which I think is quite efficient for a spell. I paid more for a gluten-free cider at 33 Taps yesterday.”
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Thawani wrote a message to AuroraPriestess saying, “Hi, I really need the New York Knicks to beat the Indiana Pacers tonight in this basketball game. They haven’t won a championship in 52 years. Please help.”
“That’s all I asked for. I haven’t gotten a video or anything. I got a thank you for your purchase message, and that was it.”
Unsure of whether the spell had taken effect, Thawani was feeling the pressure before the game started. He received comments on his Reddit post indicating that he would be to blame if the team lost.
As the Knicks started to build up a substantial first quarter lead, he was flooded with notifications telling him that the spell was indeed working. The patrons at 33 Taps started shouting “witchcraft” after positive plays, much to his delight.
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Reactions to the spell and Knicks Game 5 win
The reception to the spell has been even more positive in the hours after the final buzzer. Stephen A. Smith tweeted in appreciation of Thawani’s efforts (Thawani at first didn’t think the tweet was real). He’s been featured on a segment on the Pardon My Take podcast and shouted out by TV personality Desus Nice.
People have offered to buy Thawani beers. He’s gotten multiple requests for him to share his Venmo account. “I have not gotten any donations yet, nor have I asked for any,” he clarifies, but if someone wants to send him a million dollars, he says he won’t turn them down.
This isn’t the first time that Thawani has gone viral for his Knicks fandom. After Josh Hart was teased for ordering Uber Eats during a postgame press conference during the Knicks’ second round series against the Celtics, Thawani flew in for Game 3. He sat courtside with a large green Uber Eats bag for Hart and a note that read “POST GAME COMBO,” which is immortalized in his X profile picture.
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Will there be more spells?
Thawani’s work in this series isn’t finished yet. He’s already committed to coordinating spells for Game 6 and 7. He’s been accused by some of being a cheapskate for purchasing such a budget spell, but he claims “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s a hard choice on whether to upgrade. It may be the hardest decision I have to make today outside of all of my work decisions.”
Should the Knicks fly Thawani out for Game 7, as Tyrese Haliburton did for a fan that was assaulted by New York fans? In this humble writer’s opinion, the answer is a clear yes.
“I would drop everything and bring as much good luck as I can. It would be the biggest honor of my entire life,” Thawani said of my suggestion.
No matter what happens for the rest of the series, he will always have the memory of the Knicks’ Game 5 win to look back on as one of his proudest lifetime achievements.
“To be honest, next to the Emmy nomination, it’s right up there.”
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