NEW YORK (AP) — Madison Square Garden has seen just about everything in sports and entertainment, from the first Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight to the first Wrestlemania.
It just hasn't seen much of the NBA Finals.
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Actor Ben Stiller watches a news conference prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown speaks to the media prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The New York Knicks practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson runs drills prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The San Antonio Spurs practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The New York Knicks have brought the finals back to their home court for the first time since 1999 and can make sure they don't leave again this year. Fans are spending astonishingly high prices for tickets and the potential to witness a celebration more than five decades in the making.
With a 2-0 lead over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, the Knicks are halfway to their first championship since 1973. They are the biggest thing in the Big Apple, and it seems everyone is caught up in the hoopla except the Knicks themselves.
“I know the fan base is really excited, as they should be,” captain Jalen Brunson said. “But as a team, us inside the locker room, we have more work to do.”
Game 3 is Monday, with President Donald Trump in the building. Whether they've played in the arena or sat way up in the cheap seats — not that there is such a thing this time with tickets reselling for more than $10,000 — people know this night will be different.
“I think it’s going to be through the roof,” Spurs guard Dylan Harper said. “I think it’s going to be everything that I’ve kind of seen or dreamed of times 10.”
It will be the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since June 25, 1999, which ended with the Knicks watching the Spurs celebrate their first championship after winning Game 5.
That series, and one in 1994, were the only finals games played at MSG since the Knicks won the 1973 title. They were rarely close again until this 13-game winning streak, the second longest by any team in one playoffs, with the atmosphere around the city seemingly becoming more raucous with each victory.
“Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden," Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. "For this to be the first game in a long time that they have seen finals basketball, it’s up to us to bring it, give them something to cheer for, give them something to get loud for and also give them something to believe in.”
Wembanyama, Brunson and the rest of the players will be only part of the scene Monday, sharing it with the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game and the celebrity fans who surround the court. Some of them were already there Sunday for practices, with Knicks coach Mike Brown finally getting to meet actor Ben Stiller, then having his news conference extended when rapper Fat Joe insisted on a chance to speak from the back.
Wembanyama got to show his stuff at MSG in his second season, when the Spurs were given the leadoff game on the NBA's marquee Christmas schedule and he scored 42 points. Opportunities like that, which the Spurs increasingly have been treated to since drafting the 7-foot-4 phenom from France, could help them with what they will face Monday.
“This arena’s like no other. The added circumstances will be on top of that,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’ve been fortunate to play some games in this arena recently that have been, again, not finals, but a Christmas game. Again, I just think added attention around Victor and being in this arena a few times, we’ve experienced that. I would expect tomorrow will be more than that.”
The Knicks have been so dominant during this run that they haven't gotten to see MSG much. They have played only four home games since May 4, when they opened the second round of the playoffs. So even the home team struggles to put into words exactly what Monday will look and sound like.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy atmospheres,” guard Deuce McBride said. "I don’t think I’m going to know what to expect, but I’m just proud to be here, I’m so blessed to play here and I know the fans are going to bring it and we’re going to do everything we can.”
The arena that shook when Willis Reed walked onto the court for Game 7 in 1970 will be rocking again Monday. The current MSG had opened just a couple of years earlier, and the previous one never even saw the NBA Finals. The Knicks made it three straight years from 1951-53, but those games were played at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue because the Garden was hosting the circus.
Game 3 kicks off a massive sports week in the New York region, with a World Cup game scheduled for Saturday in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey, which will host the final. Knicks forward Josh Hart had signed on in an ambassador role for the local World Cup committee but knows the Knicks have put even the world's biggest sporting event on the back burner for the moment.
“I love football, man, so obviously a little bummed I can’t go to some of those matches, but I have something a little more interesting right now going on in my life,” Hart said. “It also adds to the energy of the city.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Actor Ben Stiller watches a news conference prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown speaks to the media prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The New York Knicks practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson runs drills prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The San Antonio Spurs practice prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the New York Knicks, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Nelly Korda is deep in one of the most dominant seasons in recent golf history, her first U.S. Women's Open title still hung on the rim of the 18th hole at Riviera for one heart-stopping moment.
Her 2 1/2-foot putt to win caught the left edge, and it toured half the circumference of the hole while the gallery watched in disbelief. When it finally fell amid an outburst of gasps and roars, Korda put her hand over her open mouth before she laughed at the absurdity of her sport.
“It's even sweeter, especially with that ice cream swirl on the last hole,” the world's top-ranked player said.
This trophy was the cool treat Korda wanted more than anything: She won the 81st U.S. Women's Open on Sunday for her second consecutive major victory, holding off Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez by one shot.
The 27-year-old Korda claimed her fourth major overall with a steady 2-under 69 in the final round — but only after her second putt on the 18th came perilously close to a spin-out that would have forced a three-way playoff. When it dropped, Korda had her fourth LPGA Tour victory already from a season in which she also has three second-place finishes in just eight starts.
She finished at 8-under 276 and celebrated with a tear-streaked face after sharing the lead with multiple competitors throughout the windy finale of the first Women's Open ever held at this venerated 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades.
This victory was nothing like Korda's major win at The Chevron Championship in April, when she streaked away from the field. Korda was seven shots off the lead after the opening round before fighting her way back to a third-round co-lead, and she never separated from Sunday's competitive pack at Riviera — but she was the only one among the top seven finishers without a bogey on the back nine.
“I didn’t feel my best on the back nine,” Korda said. “I had a lot of emotions swirling in my stomach, (but) it’s a dream come true. I’ve dreamt about this moment since I was a little girl.”
Korda said she'll remember her 9-foot birdie putt on the 17th meant much longer than her frightening final shot because it broke her out of a four-way tie for the lead with Lopez, the hard-charging Hull and three-time major champion In Gee Chun.
“I don’t really throw out fist pumps too often, but I did this weekend,” Korda said. “I threw out a double fist-pump on that (17th) hole, because I knew what it meant.”
The champion made just three birdies and a bogey Sunday, playing steadily and comfortably with her improved competitive mentality. Korda has stressed positivity and steadiness after her inexplicably winless 2025.
And after the hair-raising finish, Korda claimed the $2.5 million winner’s share of this Open’s record $12.5 million purse.
“This week was definitely a grind,” Korda said. “I don’t even feel like I had my B game. I was just grinding out there, and that’s what I guess major championships are all about, right? It doesn’t matter if you have your B or C game. You have to be there mentally.”
Korda arrived at Riviera as the favorite, but the entire Open was a challenge she met splendidly.
After a rough opening-round 73 during which she changed out of a pair of Nike shoes given to her by LeBron James, she took the extraordinary step of altering her grip — per the suggestion of her big sister, Jessica — and coolly put together back-to-back 67s to take a share of the lead into the final round.
The leaderboard only separated late Sunday after seven players began within two strokes of the lead.
Korda fended off excellent final rounds from England's Hull and Mexico's Lopez, who both narrowly missed out on their first major victories. Hull finished second at a major for the fifth time in her career.
Chun finished two shots back at 6-under 278, while third-round co-leader Sei Young Kim carded a 1-over 72 to finish at 279.
Hull played her first two rounds at 3 over, squeezing under the cut by one stroke and beginning Sunday three shots back, but she charged into the lead before the wind picked up off the Pacific. Starting three groups ahead of the leaders and hunting flagsticks all day, Hull finished the final two rounds at 10 under with a 65-67.
“It was quite windy and I hit the ball fantastic, so fair play to Nelly Korda for back-to-back wins,” Hull said. “But I just love playing in the majors. I pretty much only get up for the major. It’s really weird, I just love playing in majors. Like if it’s a normal week-to-week, I struggle sometimes getting the motivation, but when it comes to major week, I just love it.”
Hull’s bogey on the 14th left Lopez, Chun, Kim and Korda all tied for the lead at 7 under. While Kim and Lopez fell back with bogeys, Korda added to a string of nine consecutive pars. But after Hull made a 7-foot birdie putt on the 17th to regain a share of the lead, Korda barely missed a 22-foot birdie putt on the 16th.
Hull ended with a 9 1/2-foot par putt for her 67. A few minutes later, Lopez made her 15-foot putt to join the pack of leaders, but Korda pulled ahead moments later with her gutsy birdie on the 17th.
Korda dropped her approach shot squarely on the 18th green and two-putted to a victory that immediately made her think about how far she has traveled since her first U.S. Open as a precocious teen at Sebonack in 2013.
“Obviously, I’ve had doubts,” Korda said. “Even mid-round I was like, ‘Well, will I ever win it?’ You always have those doubts, but I think you’re just a human being if you have them. ... I don’t know if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, but I just think I’m just extremely proud of my fight this week, and (fulfilling) the dream of that little girl.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/golf
Nelly Korda reacts after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda celebrates after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda holds up the trophy after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda reacts after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda hits on the third hole during the final round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda hits on the third hole during the final round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda walks on the eighth green during the final round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Nelly Korda reacts after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Nelly Korda reacts after winning the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament Sunday, June 7, 2026, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
