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06/14 06:52 CDT Mayhem mars euphoria as New York City celebrates the Knicks'
first championship in 53 years
Mayhem mars euphoria as New York City celebrates the Knicks' first championship
in 53 years
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and SHELBY LUM
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) --- It was bedlam on Broadway as the New York Knicks won their
first NBA championship in 53 years on Saturday night, with exuberant
celebrations marred by mayhem and violence, including gunshots in Times Square.
Outside Madison Square Garden, a crowd watching on a big screen roared as the
Knicks rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat the Spurs in San Antonio in Game
5 of the NBA Finals.
Soon after, rowdy fans were clashing with police, smashing windshields, scaling
scaffolding, light poles and a statue, climbing into and atop school buses in
Times Square and trying to hitch a ride on a moving fire truck. Later, one of
the buses was engulfed in flames.
Around 2 a.m., gunshots were fired near 42nd Street and Broadway, police said.
Bystander video captured the sound of at least seven shots and showed people
crouching and running for cover. Preliminary reports indicated no one was
injured, police said.
The NYPD said there were multiple arrests but wouldn't have a total until later
on Sunday.
Knicks owner James Dolan, speaking in San Antonio after the game, urged fans to
stay calm.
"We need to tell everybody in New York that we know that they're celebrating,
we want them to have a great time," said Dolan, interrupting guard Josh Hart's
press conference. "Please be safe. Don't get hurt, don't hurt anybody."
The city will officially celebrate the Knicks on Thursday with a parade and
City Hall ceremony.
As the clock ticked to the final buzzer on Saturday night, anxiety that had
dominated the game's first three quarters gave way to euphoria. An
orange-and-blue-tinted fever dream that started with the Knicks' first playoff
game two months ago ended in the third title in their 80-year history.
Fireworks boomed over Brooklyn and Central Park. Fans flocked to Times Square
and ran through the streets. Outside the Garden, they sang the team's anthem:
"Go New York, Go New York, Go!"
Police officers and ambulance workers shouted "Let's go Knicks" over
loudspeakers in Brooklyn. Strangers shook hands and hugged. In the Lincoln
Tunnel, where people were riding buses back from the World Cup at MetLife
Stadium in New Jersey, drivers honked their horns in celebration.
"I'm so overwhelmed. I'm so happy," said Mathieu Ogno, of Long Island, who
fought back tears as he soaked in the victory at a team-sanctioned watch party
at Wollman Rink in Central Park.
Ogno wore the jersey of Knicks captain Jalen Brunson, whose 45 points propelled
the Knicks to victory and him to the NBA Finals MVP. Brunson's gritty
determination and chip-on-his-shoulder style have made him a fan favorite,
embodying New York's working-class ethos.
The Knicks' championship --- 19,392 days since their last --- capped an
extraordinary postseason for a franchise that hadn't been to the NBA Finals
since losing to the Spurs in 1999. Since April 23, the team has won 15 of 16
games, with its lone loss coming Monday in Game 3.
Their last title, in 1973, was also won on the road in a Game 5. Their first,
in 1970, was won at home in a Game 7 thriller. Neither was celebrated with a
parade.
"I'm happy to see my Knicks finally make it over the hump," said Shawn Muoneke,
26. "I've seen them knock on the door. They were knocking on the door the past
few years. But they finally made it over the hump, and I'm so happy to see it
and I'm so happy I'm in the city to experience it."
Muoneke, born a year after the Knicks' last trip to the NBA Finals, started
rooting for them when he was 10. He drove from Maryland to be in the city for
Game 5 at the team's Central Park watch party.
"I saw the ups, the downs and I watched the team come back up, and I was so
happy to see them finally reach the highest echelon of stardom as a team,"
Muoneke said.
After the Knicks' win, he said, the vibes in the city "are the highest they've
ever been."
President Donald Trump, a longtime Knicks fan who attended Game 3 at the Garden
with Dolan, congratulated the team in a post on his Truth Social platform.
"What a year it has been but, even more so, what incredible playoff wins we
have all witnessed, especially the last four - Maybe the greatest in the
history of basketball," Trump wrote.
With Brunson's clutch performance, he added, "a superstar was born."
After several dozen arrests throughout the playoffs and violence after Games 3
and 4 in New York that left officers injured and a teen in a coma, police
girded for unrest as Saturday bled into Sunday.
"As we celebrate, be responsible, look out for one another, stay safe, be
smart, and make this a night that reflects the very best of our city," Mayor
Zohran Mamdani said on social media. "Let's go Knicks."
__
Emily Wang Fujiyama contributed reporting.
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