New Yorkers Celebrate Basketball Comeback 53 Years In Making: Congratulations New York Knickerbockers (NY Knicks)!

Staten Islanders and New Yorkers all across the City came together to cheer on our favorite basketball team, the New York Knicks. In a comeback 53 years in the making, the NY Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to win the game 94 to 90.

All across New York, people gathered together for watch parties, stood around kiosks and in bars, and all together were unified in cheering on the Knicks as they beat their way back from being down in the first quarter of the game to make a dramatic win at the end. The final score was a shock, and then the game was won and it was all over.  Now the celebrations begin.

It may be late, but the Mayor’s Office has just released their congratulatory article, which is below.  The team will be awarded the famous Keys to the City next week.  We’ll be adding other politicians statements as the weekend progresses into Monday.

NEW YORK – After the New York Knicks clinched the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship tonight, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced that New York City will host a ticker-tape parade and City Hall ceremony honoring the team and awarding Keys to the City on Thursday, June 18.

The celebration will mark the first ticker-tape parade in Knicks history and honor a team that delivered an NBA championship to a city that has waited generations for this moment.

Additional details — including parade logistics, ceremony information and media RSVP instructions — will be released tomorrow, Sunday, June 14.

“For more than 50 years, New Yorkers have waited for this moment. Through near misses, heartbreak and a hope that every year could be our year, this city never stopped believing in the Knicks. And this team fulfilled that hope with grit, resilience and heart — just like the five boroughs itself,” said Mayor Mamdani. “New Yorkers have cheered for our team from packed living rooms in the Bronx to watch parties in Brooklyn, from bars in Queens to Staten Island to Manhattan, and Madison Square Garden itself. Now it’s time for our city to celebrate together. Bing bong.”

Mayor Mamdani also announced that City Hall and municipal buildings across the city will be illuminated in blue and orange on Thursday, June 18 to celebrate the victory.

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In addition to City Hall, the following City buildings will also be illuminated in blue and orange on the night of Thursday, June 18 in honor of the New York Knicks:  

• The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building: 1 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 
• Brooklyn Borough Hall: 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 

Additional buildings may be lit as well.

“Knicks Changing Room” by William Warby, CC BY 2.0