His special night was nothing but net.
A brave Manhattan boy who has “kept smiling” through years of excruciating sickle cell disease had the time of his life at Monday’s Knicks game thanks to a charity that partners with Madison Square Garden, his mom told The Post.
Marvell CharlesPierre Jr., 8, who goes by “MJ,” scored a free ticket to Game 3 of the NBA finals Monday as part of the Garden of Dreams program — and was “hyped up” with “joy,” said his mother, Angelina Rosado.
“Knowing how much crying he’s done and how many hospitals and needles he’s endured, those moments of joy at the game were so amazing,” said Rosado, 33, of the Lower East Side. “He just wants to be a regular kid.”
MJ, a third grader at PS 15, got special early entrance and access to the team’s pre-game warm-up alongside celebrities in the nearly empty arena.
“He felt like VIP,” Rosado said, adding he was also given a hip, royal blue Knicks hat.
MJ — who has spent days-long stints in emergency rooms since first being diagnosed with the painful blood disease at 1 month old — was swept away by the excited energy of the crowd as the Knicks took on the Spurs, ultimately losing by just four points.
“To see him jumping up, screaming and cheering — those were super-happy moments,” said Rosado, who posted a heartwarming montage of the game night on Instagram. “His face was lighting up.”
“He was screaming ‘defense!’” she said. “The crowd really hyped him up.”
“It was so dope for me as a mom to see that,” she added.
People like MJ who have sickle cell disease suffer from severe pain when their mutated, crescent-shaped red blood cells clump together and block blood flow.
The blockage —known as a vaso-occlusive crisis — can flare up at unpredictable times, restricting blood flow and leading to severe inflammation and intense pain.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Rosado said of her son’s “gut wrenching” diagnosis, and first crisis at 11 months old.
“As a mom who has had to deal hospital visits and convincing him he’s gonna be fine in worst pain of his life… to see him having joy — you can’t even buy something like that,” she said.
At the game, MJ, who’s a big Jalen Brunson fan, grinned and flashed the player’s signature hand symbol, said Rosado, who is executive director of the domestic violence non-profit Sisters in Purple.
The duo took their seats in section 214 and were thrilled to learn Bronx-bred rapper Cardi B would perform a surprise halftime show, she said.
Garden of Dreams, non-profit charity that brings “life-changing opportunities to young people in need,” teamed up with the Make-a-Wish foundation to get MJ the coveted tickets.
The charity and its partners have given roughly 500 tickets to help kids in need attend Games 3 and 4 of the Knicks finals, according to a rep for Garden of Dreams.
It will give away 250 more if there’s a Game 6 of the NBA finals.
The charity partners with dozens of groups such as the Children’s Aid Society, Madison Square Boys & Girls, Scan Harbor, and New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, to give sick and underserved children tickets to events at the arena.
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