“Knicks in five! Knicks in five!”
For days, the chant echoed across New York City.
Fans shouted it on subway platforms, outside bars and restaurants, and on sidewalks awash in orange and blue. After the New York Knicks dropped Game 3 of the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, many diehard fans remained convinced the series would end in five games.
On Saturday night, it did.
The Knicks defeated the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years, sparking celebrations that spilled from sports bars and living rooms into streets across New York City and beyond.
As the final seconds ticked away, fans poured into neighborhoods across the entire New York City area. Videos posted to social media showed crowds chanting, singing and cheering in the streets, while impromptu block parties stretched across avenues in parts of the city.
The victory represented far more than a basketball championship for many New Yorkers. The Knicks have long occupied a unique place in the city’s identity, carrying generations of hopes, frustrations and near-misses since winning their last title in 1973.
For longtime fans, Saturday night’s victory ended decades of waiting. For others, it became a shared civic moment that drew in even those who rarely follow basketball.
Athletes, celebrities and political leaders joined the celebration. President Donald Trump congratulated the team in a social media post, praising Knicks owner James Dolan, Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and several players following the championship-clinching victory. Longtime Knicks superfans Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet as well numerous other athletes and celebrities include long-time basketball fan President Barack Obama also celebrated the win in person and online.
The celebrations are expected to continue throughout the week. City officials announced plans for a championship ticker-tape parade on Thursday — the first such parade in Knicks franchise history.
Authorities reported several arrests and isolated incidents during the festivities, including a shooting near Times Square and damaged vehicles, though the overwhelming majority of celebrations remained peaceful as crowds filled streets well into the early morning hours.
For a few hours Saturday night, the usual boundaries between neighborhoods, boroughs and even state lines seemed to disappear.
Fans gathered to celebrate all of the finals games and were there to witness the final win in the West Village, Astoria, Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Long Island, Jersey City, the Jersey Shore, Westchester County and beyond. Some had followed the team for decades. Others may not have watched a full game all season.
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But after 53 years without a championship, none of that seemed to matter.
The Knicks may have won the title in San Antonio, but the celebration belonged to New York.
And for one night at least, everyone was a New Yorker.
As Mayor Zohran Mamdani put it in a one-word reaction on social media:
HISTORY.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) June 14, 2026
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