Knicks' long-awaited championship brings 'camaraderie and craziness' to NYC. Fans hope it continues

NEW YORK (AP) — In the final moments before the Knicks ended their 53-year NBA championship drought, Yolanda Matos found herself hosting a scrum of anxious New Yorkers on the sidewalk outside her Brooklyn home.

Heads lowered in quiet prayer. Boxes of pizza passed from people in jerseys to people in suits. And Matos — a retired correctional officer with a strictly enforced policy against premature celebration — waited until the final buzzer before leading the shrieking, weeping, chest-thumping crowd through the frenzied streets.

“The camaraderie and craziness is something I’ve never seen in my whole life,” Matos marveled. “These Knicks really got everyone outside.”

The team’s victory Saturday night over the San Antonio Spurs saw moments of mayhem, with dozens of arrests and property damage mostly clustered around Madison Square Garden.

But scenes like the one on Matos’ block were far more common: neighbors and strangers of every age and background, clustered around a TV or projector as their collective stress gave way to an unusual moment of citywide euphoria.

Impromptu dance parties raged until dawn — then continued Sunday, as delirious New Yorkers flocked to the Puerto Rican Day parade, also attended by multiple Knicks players, including Brooklyn native Jose Alvarado.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Knicks fan himself who has popped up at watch parties around the city, announced the team would be honored Thursday by a ticker-tape parade.

By Sunday night, many New Yorkers were struggling to find a historical comparison to what they were experiencing.

“I was there for the Giants’ Super Bowls, the Yankees dynasty, the Mets in ’86, which was really special. None of that comes even close to this,” said Marlon Rice, a 51-year-old community advocate. “The entire city is on tilt because of the Knicks. I just hope this stays and we can enjoy an entire summer off this vibe.”

That joy had been building for weeks, as the Knicks embarked on a historic playoff run marked by one stunning comeback after another. For fans long accustomed to last-minute heartbreak, processing this new reality seemed to grow into a communal endeavor — requiring a new sort of viewing experience.

To meet that need, unofficial watch parties cropped up across the city streets and parks, gas stations and delis, synagogues, mosques and at least one funeral home — giving residents the chance to watch shoulder to shoulder with fellow fans, without shelling out a month’s rent or more for a ticket.

Hours before tipoff on Saturday, lawn chairs and sound systems were already set up on a street corner facing the facade of a building where a Cuban restaurant’s projection of each game had reliably drawn thousands of people. By then, the phrase “Knicks in 5” had become both standard greeting and farewell among New Yorkers.

The ensuing delirium has upended schedules, added to milestones and bred a strange sense of civic pride. Newborns at Lenox Hill Hospital received Knicks-embroidered hats. The cast of Hamilton ended their performance Sunday with a rendition of Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York.” Bus drivers, firefighters and subway workers are greeted as celebrities, sometimes breaking from their duties to join the celebration.

In one of many viral videos, a pair of sanitation workers allow private citizens to toss bags of trash into their truck, prompting cheers from bystanders.

Rabbi Yakov Bankhalter, the leader of an Orthodox Jewish community space near Madison Square Garden, said his own hastily-scheduled watch party had ended with fans of every faith spinning joyously in the Manhattan streets.

“Wherever you are in New York, it feels like there is nothing but the Knicks,” Bankhalter said on Monday morning. “We’re still in the euphoria. It’s unbelievable. It’s still unbelievable.”

New York Knicks fans celebrate their victory after Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

New York Knicks fans celebrate their victory as they watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

New York Knicks fans celebrate their victory after Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Options trader, and New York Knicks fan Ousama Fayek works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

New York Knicks fans celebrate as they watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks’ victory tour following their first NBA championship since 1973 made another stop Wednesday night when Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart threw out ceremonial first pitches at Yankee Stadium.

Before the Yankees played the Chicago White Sox, Brunson and Hart were met with a standing ovation and loud cheers from fans as they took the field to a montage of highlights from the title run.

Standing in front of the mound and wearing Yankees pinstripes, Brunson made his toss to backup catcher J.C. Escarra while Hart threw to utilityman Max Schuemann.

“Oh, I think’s it been awesome,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “What a fun team to get behind and just the story of that team and how it’s kind of come together over the last couple of years and just a lot of grit, a lot of mental fortitude and to see the fanbase and then some galvanized around that club has been a lot of fun to witness."

Brunson and Hart were honored after the Knicks made appearances on NBC’s “The Today Show” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Monday. Brunson and Hart along with starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby also appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday.

The ceremony occurred a day before the Knicks will be honored with a massive ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan. Mayor Zohran Mamdani predicted Thursday’s celebration could be “the largest parade in New York City history."

The parade will also be the first for the Knicks, who won their first two NBA champiosnhips in 1970 and 1973. After those titles, then-Mayor John Lindsay celebrated the team at the mayoral mansion and City Hall.

Brunson threw out a first pitch for the second time since joining the Knicks. He also did it before a Mets-Yankees game in July 2024 shortly after signing a four-year, $156.5 million contract to stay with the Knicks.

Brunson averaged 32.6 points in New York’s five-game victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals and won MVP honors. He led the Knicks to a 94-90 victory in the clinching Game 5 by scoring 45 points.

Hart is a great-nephew of former Yankees catcher Elston Howard, whose No. 32 jersey is retired by the team. Howard is also honored with a plaque in Monument Park.

The Knicks finished 16-3 in the postseason, an .842 winning percentage that matched the 2024 Boston Celtics for second-best since the format changed to best-of-seven series in all NBA playoff rounds beginning in 2003. The 2017 Golden State Warriors went 16-1.

New York won 13 consecutive postseason games, second to Golden State's 15 in a row in 2017, and set records by winning nine straight road games and outscoring their postseason opponents by 283 points.

Brunson and the Knicks also pulled off several big comebacks on the way to their title.

“It’s just been a captivating run that they’ve been on and with a group that’s now been together for a couple of years and then on top of the 53 years since a championship, it’s been a great story and a fan base that has come to know several of these guys as they’ve kind of climbed that ladder to ultimately winning a championship,” Boone said. “So I think it’ll be one of the historic teams that we talk about when it comes to the NBA.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson, left, and Josh Hart leave the field after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Knicks' Josh Hart, left, and Jalen Brunson, right, wait to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Knicks' Josh Hart, left, and Jalen Brunson, right, wait to throws out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Knicks' Josh Hart, right, and Jalen Brunson throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)