On the night of June 10, 2026, the New York Knicks’ season was in jeopardy. After an exceptionally dominant playoff run and wins in the first two games of the NBA finals in San Antonio against the Western Conference champion Spurs, the Knicks lost their first game in 46 days. The momentum of the series had seemingly flipped, and Knicks fans filed out of Madison Square Garden disappointed with the shortcoming.
Two nights later, the Spurs jumped out to a fast start. In the first quarter, with the Knicks already losing by 17 points, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson committed an offensive foul against Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. While on the ground, the 7’6” Wembanyama could be seen taunting Robinson.
“I’m in your head,” Wembanyama yelled.
The Knicks had become lifeless. At the end of the half, the Spurs led by 27. It was the largest halftime lead by a road team in NBA finals history. The Wu-Tang Clan performed during the break to an unenthused crowd. With 9:27 remaining in the third quarter, the Spurs led by 29.
For longtime Knicks fans in attendance, it was a devastating feeling they knew all too well. The Knicks have a long history of failure. Going without a championship since 1973, they were often the butt of jokes made by late night comedy shows and even a Pixar movie. In 2019, they were humiliated when superstar Kevin Durant chose to play for the smaller New York team, the Brooklyn Nets.
To Knicks fans, this familiar feeling was heartbreaking. The 2025–26 team was uniquely beloved to the city of New York. It was a team whose core players were almost all northeastern-born. Key role-player Jose Alvarado is a New Yorker himself, hailing from Brooklyn. The team’s two stars, Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns, are both New Jersey-born. Slightly further south, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart are from Philadelphia and Maryland, respectively. Even London-born OG Anunoby is a self-proclaimed New York Mets fan since childhood.
The team was constructed around a trio of college teammates, Brunson, Bridges, and Hart, who won an NCAA national championship together at Villanova. Some fans even began to believe that they had the religious favor of fellow Villanova alum Pope Leo XIV on their side. The team also featured players from various ethnic backgrounds that have strong local populations in New York. Alvarado is Puerto Rican, Anthony-Towns has Dominican heritage, Anunoby has Nigerian heritage, and role-player Jordan Clarkson is Filipino. To the ever diverse population of America’s largest city, this basketball team seemed to represent them.
Fortunately for Knicks fans, 29 points is the largest lead the Spurs would have in game 4. Almost out of nowhere, coming out of halftime the Knicks went on a 13–0 scoring run. At the end of the third quarter, they had cut the lead to 15. In the fourth quarter, they continued their comeback.
There were 5.7 seconds remaining on the clock and the Knicks trailed 106–105; the game came down to one final play. A home crowd infused with life anxiously awaited Anunoby to inbound the ball. Anunoby got the ball in to Brunson, who very quickly fired off a very long 3-pointer attempt over the outstretched arms of Wembanyama.
The shot was short, and fans waited with baited breath as the ball bounced around the rim. Seemingly out of nowhere Anunoby, who was left completely unguarded after inbounding the ball, came racing to the basket and, with his body completely extended crashing towards the net, tipped the ball in with just the tips of his outstretched fingers. The ball, miraculously, found its way into the net to give the Knicks a 107–106 lead with 1.2 seconds remaining. The Spurs failed to score on their final play and the Knicks completed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. Pandemonium ensued in Madison Square Garden.
In the summer of America’s 250th birthday, a lot was going on in New York City. In addition to the Knicks’ playoff run, the city was welcoming thousands of people from around the globe to eight World Cup matches held across the river at MetLife Stadium. With the addition of this game 4 Knicks victory, the feeling in New York City was optimistic.
Three nights later in San Antonio, New York once again pulled off a comeback victory to win their fourth game of the series and clinch their first championship in 53 years. Back on the streets of New York, filled with the fans who were mostly priced out of Madison Square Garden tickets, raucous celebrations lasted the whole night. Over two million people attended the parade in Lower Manhattan days later.
For a few summer months between 7th & 8th avenue in Midtown, across the greater New York region, across the living rooms of lifelong fans watching on television, and even across the minds of new fans caught up in the magic of the moment, it felt like there was something worth celebrating, and it was something that felt like a little more than basketball.