Before Saturday’s NBA Finals game – in which the New York Knicks, a historic franchise beset by decades of failure since their last championship in 1973, could win the title – the city believed.
It was awash in the Knicks’ blue and orange. The Archdiocese of New York posted #YesWeHaveFavorites on the social platform X. Bagel shops sold Knicks-colored bagels. People who didn’t know the names Willis Reed or Walt Frazier suddenly recognized Jalen Brunson.
When the final buzzer sounded, after yet another Knicks comeback made them champions, it wasn’t only about a title. For New York basketball fans, patience has made victory all the sweeter – and their team’s improbable journey to a championship has prompted a surge of ebullient fellowship across the diverse communities that make up America’s largest city.
Why We Wrote This
The New York Knicks’ NBA Finals victory brought a diverse and sometimes-troubled city together, with the team expressing the grit that many residents see in their own lives.
New Yorkers have found not only sports excitement but also a story as relatable as their own struggles with a city beset by high living costs, the pandemic and its aftermath, and sometimes-fractious politics.
“We got that New York grit,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said after the game.
The Knicks trailed by double digits in three of their four series victories, but mounted stunning fourth-quarter comebacks to win.
“This team just doesn’t stop. It keeps coming. It’s like New York – it’s hard being here, but you wake up every morning and you keep going at it,” says David Hollander, a professor of sports business at New York University and author of “How Basketball Can Save the World.” “You keep pushing yourself past whatever difficulties it is to be in this city, and then you see the glory. You emerge every day stronger.”
Andres Kudacki/AP
New York Knicks fans celebrate in the streets after the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Finals, early Sunday, June 14, 2026, in New York.
By the opening of Game 5, the Knicks stood astride the city.
Banding together, block by block
Three official outdoor watch parties drew thousands in Manhattan, as sports bars and restaurants saw lines stretch around the block and waits last hours. Hospitals organized watch parties for patients. Fans projected the game onto building walls and streamed it from big-screen TVs mounted in SUV trunks. Sidewalks, cramped apartments, and even funeral homes became gathering places. At Resurrection Brooklyn, a Presbyterian church in Clinton Hill, more than 300 people packed the churchyard to watch the game while sharing free hot dogs, chips, and beverages.
Around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, the celebrations spilled out onto the streets. Although police made arrests at some gatherings, others had a different vibe. Even on the buttoned-down Upper East Side, suited professionals and women dressed for a night out donned official orange-and-blue jerseys and traded fist bumps with strangers.
The spirit was evident even before the game.
“Everyone is coming together. There is so much love. I was hugging random people the last time they won,” said longtime fan Christina Coleman as she and a friend lined up for a Planet Hollywood watch party near Times Square. She said they had been waiting for more than an hour and did not know if they would make it inside, but were sticking it out anyway. “That’s how much I love the Knicks.”
The Knicks are one of 12 major professional sports teams in the area – some based closer to the city than others – but few represent New York as much as they do. Basketball is woven into the city’s identity – from playgrounds in Harlem and the Bronx to high school gyms in Brooklyn and Queens.
“I remember when the Giants won, but the Knicks are different,” said Palesa Motsoasele, a Brooklyn resident watching the game in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, recalling the NFL team’s Super Bowl wins. “New York is a basketball town. Every park you go to has a basketball court.”
Darren Abate/AP
A New York Knicks fan celebrates after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio, to clinch the team's first championship since 1973.
Founded in 1946 as the Knickerbockers, the team entered the playoffs this spring with a solid but hardly stunning 53–29 record. The franchise caught fire over the next two months, winning 13 consecutive games before the San Antonio Spurs took Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It looked like the Spurs might even the series in Game 4, building a 29-point lead before the Knicks staged the biggest comeback in Finals history and took a 3-1 advantage. Game 5 started rough as well.
Joy, rowdiness, and unity
As the Knicks edged ahead in the final minutes for a 94-90 final score – winning just their third title in 80 years – pandemonium had erupted in the streets. In Brooklyn, people climbed atop city buses as police blocked off several blocks of Fulton Street. Packed streets preven…
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