ITP V.026 SPORTS: NEW YORK KNICKS BEAT SAN ANTONIO SPURS 4 GAMES TO 1 TO WIN NBA TITLE

 

 

 For the first time since 1973 (53 years) the NEW YORK KNICKS basketball team are NBA. CHAMPIONS. 

THE. NEW YORK KNICKS BEAT SAN ANTONIO SPURS 4 GAMES TO 1 (94-90 GAME 5) TO WIN NBA TITLE. 

NEW YORK KNICKS guard JALEN BRUNSON scored 45 points and was named 2026 NBA FINALS MVP..  

There will be a parade down inn the CANYON OF HEROES IN NEW YORK CITY on THURSDAY! 

 

ITP V.026 EDITORS NOTE: 

ITP'S author was born and raised in NEW YORK CITY. We've been WAITING 53 years for a NEW YORK KNICKS CHAMPIONSHIP ..After many losing seasons and the '94, '99 NBA FINALS  heartbreaks, THE NEW YORK KNICKS finally did it and won it all. Now I can die happy.   

Thank you JAMES DOLAN (KNICKS OWNER) and LEON ROSE (KNICKS PRESIDENT and of COURSE OG ANUNOBY, JALEN BRUNSON and HEAD COACH MIKE BROWN)... 

 #VILANOVACONNECTION 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FROM FORMER U.S.A PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: 

 What an incredible season! Basketball fans everywhere will remember the team that embodied New York grit, never quit, and battled to the final buzzer. Congratulations to James Dolan, Coach Mike Brown, Captain Jalen Brunson, every member of the New York Knicks organization, and the loyal Knicks faithful who waited 53 years to celebrate this championship..

 

FROM MARK LASSITER: 

 

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand-new

Big lights will inspire you

-Alicia Keys

When I watched the towers implode on 9/11, the first shock to my system had nothing to do with nationalism or politics. My FIRST reaction was, “that’s my neighborhood.”

If you have never LIVED New York, you may never understand when people talk about what New York feels like. Allow me. The reaction of New Yorkers to the New York freakin’ Knicks is much more than basketball. It is a collective neighborhood party chasing the last trauma of 9/11 off the block.

From the moment they leave the crib, New Yorkers MUST have an indomitable spirit just to make it to school on a public bus or Subway. I was riding the Subway solo, in the fourth grade. By junior high school (not middle school) my commute was an hour and a half in each direction.

Due to Knicks fans packing the joint, the Atlanta sports bar in Midtown I would have checked out the game with non-strangers had a three hour wait. During the first three quarters, I was too exhausted to watch the game with audio. Instead, I muted the play-by-play and streamed London Soul Radio to soothe my emotions.

“To be a Knicks fan is to suffer”

To be a New Yorker is to survive.

The Knicks are actual cockroaches. They just stick around, regardless of the deficit. Halfway through the fourth quarter, I turned on the game audio. Here come the Knicks again. The 16-3 playoff Knicks defeated an athletically superior team from San Antonio because they were smarter and owned an indomitable spirit.

Baby, I'm from New York

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothin' you can't do

I’m not crying, you crying.

Cleve Lassiter treated a much younger version of me to football and baseball games at the Polo Grounds. We rode the Subway together to the rodeo, The Ringling Bros Circus and Knicks basketball at Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue and 51st.

The user-generated content from inside and outside MSG, Radio City Music Hall, the Wolman Skating Rink at Central Park, Dykman Houses, Harlem Tavern, Times Square and every corner from Greenburgh to Greenwich Village is forever.

In 2018, the longest tenured Knicks player, Mitchell Robinson’s first season, New York was 17-65. Last night, Robinson had the most important offensive rebound of his career. Mikal Bridges played another consecutive game. Josh Hart provided soul. OG Anunoby is a force of nature.

Karl Towns Sr. tried out for the Knicks, but his NBA dreams ended when he was cut. 40 years later, he watched his son Karl-Anthony lead their favorite team to its first NBA championship since 1973. Captain and closer Brunson landed awkwardly on his ankle, left the court, came back, dropped 45 points and hugged his Dad.

I cannot explain it.

-Born In The Bronx, Knicks Since 1967

 

FROM STEVE GELBS: 

 

June 14, 1994: #11 breaks a 54 year drought

June 13, 2026: #11 breaks a 53 year drought

 

 FROM TIME MAGAZINE: 

 

The New York Knicks championship, the first since 1973, clinched clinched on June 13 in a 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, means everything to New Yorkers because for locals, the game is everywhere, TIME’s Sean Gregory writes.

“You play it, you breathe it, you live it, you love it. So you ache when your team stinks. But when all’s clicking in your basketball relationship, and you’re living among 8.5 million people, a vibe spreads, as if it were a joy germ, among friends, family, neighbors, courtside celebrities. Even those who never pick up a ball catch Knicks fever.”

The core reason for watching sports is the promise — however faint — of witnessing some accomplishment that no eyes have ever before seen.

Read more about the meaning of the historic win: https://time.com/.../13/new-york-knicks-win-championship/...

Photo-illustration by Neil Jamieson for TIME

 

 

 Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-