{"id":263510,"date":"2026-06-11T18:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263510\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T18:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:39:20","slug":"the-sports-event-that-shows-no-one-in-new-york-cares-about-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/263510\/","title":{"rendered":"The sports event that shows no one in New York cares about the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manhattan and much of New York City\u2019s four other boroughs were gripped on Wednesday night by a historic sporting event, that had nothing to do with Fifa or its imminent World Cup<\/a> finals.<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, reeling in a 29-point San Antonio Spurs lead, to score the winning points with one second remaining. The Knicks attract an A-list celebrity fanbase courtside, while outside Madison Square Garden, there was a febrile atmosphere at times and scuffles with police as thousands celebrated the win.<\/p>\n

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Fifa commercials are taking over Times Square and Penn Station, which sits under the Garden, but with the World Cup about to start tonight, only one sport \u2013 and one team \u2013 dominates conversation in New York.<\/p>\n

There were similarities with the scenes in north London that followed Arsenal\u2019s first Premier League title in 22 years<\/a> last month, although the Knicks have waited a lot longer. The last of their two NBA championships was 53 years ago, when Richard Nixon was in the White House, and US troops still fought in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

The Knicks might be Arsenal in terms of the scope of loyalty they inspire in the country\u2019s biggest city \u2013 but in terms of championships won, and familiarity with noble failure, they bear a greater similarity to Tottenham Hotspur.<\/p>\n

The 107-106 win means the Knicks now lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can seal the title if they win Game 5 in Texas on Saturday night, with the game tipping-off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Britain. As a sporting event, the US team\u2019s first World Cup group game against Paraguay in Los Angeles<\/a>, 2am UK time on Saturday, does not come close to capturing the public imagination.<\/p>\n

\"OGBritish-born point guard OG Anunoby<\/a> (right) scores the match-winning basket – Vincent Carchietta\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Courtside, no team can deliver the celebrity quotient like the Knicks, many of whom were genuine fans before they were famous. On Wednesday night, Larry David, of Curb Your Enthusiasm, sat next to John McEnroe, the seven-time grand-slam tennis champion. The actor Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner, roared into the television cameras after the dramatic ending. Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Jimmy Fallon were all in attendance.<\/p>\n

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Taylor Swift also arrived with an entourage wearing a \u201cStevie Knicks\u201d T-shirt, although her Knicks-supporting credentials have been questioned. Donald Trump attended the first finals game at the Garden when he was booed and then accused of falling asleep<\/a>. A native New Yorker, he is a long-term Knicks fan.<\/p>\n

The winning basket on Wednesday was tipped in by the British-born OG Anunoby, one of the Knicks\u2019s shining lights, who was born in Harlesden, north-west London, close to where Raheem Sterling was brought up. Anunoby, 28, considers himself British. He moved to Missouri aged four with his late father Ogugua snr, an academic, and became a high school and college phenom.<\/p>\n

Anunoby is an Arsenal fan and also an investor in the basketball franchise London Lions. He often speaks with a British accent and is an enthusiastic supporter of British basketball. His brother Chigbo played in the NFL.<\/p>\n

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Anunoby is not the only British connection to the Knicks. Scotland\u2019s great World Cup hope John McGinn has a strong family link to the franchise. The Aston Villa captain\u2019s cousin Scott is vice-president of the company that operates Madison Square Garden, the home of the team based in the heart of Manhattan.<\/p>\n

On the streets outside the Garden, Seventh and Eighth Avenue were closed by police and emotions ran high. Social media footage showed Knicks fans attacking a man wearing a Spurs match-vest and on other occasions clashing with police.<\/p>\n

Generally, however, it was good-natured. Bars showing the game were packed with fans wearing the team\u2019s blue and orange, and crowds outside gathered around pavement screens and watched through windows as an epic game reached its climax.<\/p>\n

\"Supporters<\/p>\n

Supporters come together to take in the scenes after the historic comeback – Shannon Stapleton\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Even in the most famous city on Earth, and its capacity to cater for all tastes, there seemed to be just one preoccupation. Josh, 24, from Brooklyn<\/a>, said that there were many who thought they might never live to see the day the Knicks finally win an NBA championship. \u201cThe city will go crazy if they do it. It will be the kind of day you tell your kids about. Hopefully not as long a wait for the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The game was watched by England players at their hotel in West Palm Beach, said Marc Gu\u00e9hi \u2013 and many of them are NBA fans. Thomas Tuchel himself was a decent schoolboy basketball player and at 6ft 3in is just taller than the star of the Knicks, point guard Jalen Brunson<\/a>. The US World Cup team were filmed reacting wildly at the game\u2019s climax, in a clip widely shared on social media.<\/p>\n

Any such heroics against Paraguay are unlikely to be watched as closely by the Knicks players. The Spurs may yet take this series past Game 5, with stars such as Stephon Castle<\/a> and 7ft 4in French sensation Victor Wembanyama<\/a> having been stung by this defeat. As for the attention of New York, the World Cup will have to wait until this epic is decided.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan and much of New York City\u2019s four other boroughs were gripped on Wednesday night by a historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[29426,102160,98,4777,1016,222,21,37011,9,24,55,54,1104,56,6474,102161,9138,34503,27571,57312,10221,14771],"class_list":["post-263510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-arsenal","tag-aston-villa","tag-brooklyn","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-los-angeles","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-ny","tag-og-anunoby","tag-raheem-sterling","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-stephon-castle","tag-the-knicks","tag-tottenham-hotspur","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}