The New York Knicks celebrated their historic NBA championship with a parade through the city as blue and orange confetti swirled through the air amid massive cheers of “Let’s go, Knicks!”
Fans stood shoulder to shoulder — sometimes on each other’s shoulders — or climbed traffic lights and garbage trucks to get a glimpse of the players who delivered the first title to fans in 53 years. Over a kilometre away, on the Brooklyn Bridge, people gathered just to hear the loudspeakers.
A general view of the procession during the New York Knicks Championship ticker tape parade. Getty
It was a moment of unity for the city, who had long been starved of a winning team on the hard wood. But among the high-fives, cheers and hugs there was tension in the air between the team’s owner, James Dolan, and New York City’s charismatic mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
Last week, Dolan and Mamdani got into a war of words regarding team watch parties, leading to the billionaire owner saying the mayor was not a real Knicks fan.
So when it was time for Mamdani to deliver his speech, it was clear the elected official took those comments to heart.
With Dolan seated just a metre away, Mamdani rattled off some of the team’s best memories while mentioning obscure and legendary players alike.
He spoke of Bernard King’s 60-point game on Christmas Day 1984, Willis Reed’s courageous performance in the 1970 NBA Finals and Patrick Ewing battling the Indiana Pacers.
He even mentioned Charles Oakley, who was banned by Dolan from Knicks games in an ugly public spat in 2017.
Mamdani also mentioned the odds of the team winning game four, when analytics models had the Spurs at 99.6 per cent chance of winning the match after taking a 29-point lead.
“It is in that .4 percent that Jalen Brunson, the same guy that so many said was too small, proves that not only is he good enough, he is the new standard of greatness,” Mamdani said.
“It is in that .4 percent that OG Anunoby watches the ball float from the top of the arc and start running toward the basket, fingers reaching toward the heavens. It is in that .4 percent that Karl-Anthony Towns finds the strength to mourn his mother and still grab rebound after rebound, make block after block.
“It is in that .4 percent that Jose Alvarado shows every kid growing up in public housing that a son of Brooklyn and Queens can win for every one of the five boroughs.
Rama Duwaji and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Getty
“It is in that .4 percent that [Mitchell Robinson] breaks his finger before game one and says ‘Go get the tape.’
“It’s in that .4 percent that Josh Hart grabs rebounds that break teams and Mikal Bridges proves he was worth every single draft pick, that Landry Shamet pulls up from downtown, that every one of these 18 players transforms the franchise, that Mike Brown keeps believing.”
When Dolan had his turn to address the city, he took a shot at the mayor, even though he did not mention him by name.
“I’m very proud of our team,” said Dolan. “Look, I don’t need your vote. I don’t need to quote to you about what happened here because if you’re a Knicks fan, you know it already. So thank you for supporting our team.
Jose Alvarado greets fans. Getty
“We’re gonna keep on working to bring you even better basketball, although it’s hard to imagine that we get much better than this. But we will, right fellas?”
Mamdani eventually issued keys to the city to staff and players, including Dolan and his son, both of whom seemed uninterested in a photo opportunity but shook his hand.
The spat between Mamdani and Dolan began during the election cycle when Mamdani used the Knicks logo for his campaign.
In response, Dolan and the Knicks issued a cease-and-desist letter.
The Knicks had the same stance when the White House used their Knicks logo in a post shortly after last year’s election to say, “Trump Is Your President.”