New York Amsterdam News New York Knicks Special 2026

New York or nowhere, baby!

Brunson wills Knicks to first NBA title since 1973

By JAIME C. HARRIS

AmNews Sports Editor

The wait is over.

It’s been 53 years since 1973, the last year the Knicks won an NBA title before Saturday night, but Jalen Brunson, a transcendent star, made sure that New York City, the New York tri-state area, and Knicks fans across this country and abroad had to wait no longer.

Coming back again from a lategame deficit, the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 to capture the franchise’s third league championship, joining the 1970 and 1973 teams. They were led by the steadfast Brunson. The 29-year-old point guard proved to be the one. Decades of Hall of Famers — Bernard King, Patrick Ewing, and Carmelo Anthony; much bigger men with seemingly more physical gifts — couldn’t do what the 6-2 Brunson has done.

He completed the transforma tion of a once moribund franchise by scoring 45 points in Game 5 — the third-most ever in a finals closeout game — to clinch the series 4-1, including 13 straight for the Knicks during a crucial and defining stretch in the fourth quarter. It was the Knicks’ re markable NBA-record ninth consecutive postseason road win.

Brunson’s performance conjures memories of and comparisons to Walt “Clyde” Frazier’s epic masterpiece of 36 points, 19 assists, and seven rebounds against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of the 1970 finals, lifting the Knicks to a 113-99 triumph.

Now, the debate has begun: Has Brunson, awarded the Bill Russell trophy as the finals MVP, surpassed Frazier, Willis Reed, and Ewing, the latter of whom never won an NBA title, as the greatest Knick of all-time? If

Brunson has not yet attained that lofty subjective status, a persuasive case can be made that he is the most consequential Knick to ever don the franchise’s uniform.

After the game, Brunson, in an interview with ABC’s “Inside the NBA” show — seated with his father, Rick Brunson, a former Knicks player and current Knicks assistant coach — like most of the basketball world, admitted he never envisioned himself becoming the force multiplier that would shepherd the Knicks to the sports’ Promised Land. Indeed, he is now New York’s metaphorical Moses.

June 30, 2022, may be consecrated as the Knicks’ holy holiday. It is the day Brunson agreed to leave the Dallas Mavericks and sign a four-year, $104 million deal with the team. Today, it is laughable to recall that numerous pundits and fans said the

time was a backup to then Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. Brunson would quickly dispel those views, immediately elevating the entire organization. He was deservedly named the Knicks’ captain on Aug. 6, 2024, and has epitomized sacrifice and selflessness — committed to the singular goal of winning a title, more by actions than words. It is evidenced by Brunson leaving $113 million on the table when he signed his $156.5 million contract extension three weeks before instead of waiting until last summer, when he could have inked a deal for $269 million. Brunson’s decision was rooted in providing the Knicks with financial flexibility to pay players that would be integral to achieving the goal of winning a title.

A little more than one year ago, Brunson sat stoically on a dais next to teammate Karl-Anthony Towns in the Knicks’ interview room at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The emotional toll he was experiencing at that moment saturated the room. Roughly 45 minutes earlier, the Knicks were eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals 4-2 by the Indiana Pacers, losing Game 6 by 125-108. It was a disappointing ending to their season. The Knicks entered the series as the favorites and firmly believed they would advance to the NBA Finals.

Brunson looked at the assembled media and in a monotone voice asserted, “It sucks, man. Simple as that.”

When asked if he felt the group that had just fallen short of their ambitions could come back the following campaign

most confidence,” he maintained. “Overconfident. Seriously, there’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m confident with this group.” His words were prophetic. Brunson embodies the organization’s determination. From team president Leon Rose to William “World Wide Wes” Wesley, the Knicks’ executive vice president, to head coach Mike Brown and the players.

“It’s the most resilient group I’ve ever been around,” Brown told ESPN after he joined the late, legendary Red Holzman as the only Knicks head coaches to win NBA championships. “You can’t teach the resiliency this group showed throughout the course of the year.” Brown’s crew was behind by 10 or more points in the first quarter in each game — the first time that has happened in the finals. They trailed with under two minutes remaining in each of the first four games of the series and were down 75-65 early in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Conversely, the Spurs, who could have reversed roles with the Knicks and been up 3-1 entering Game 5, go into the offseason with thoughts of what could have been, as the average margin of victory in Games 2 through 5 was 2.25 points, with the Knicks taking three of the games.

“This is the biggest lesson of my life — the biggest learning moment,” said the Spurs’ 22-year-old center Victor Wembanyama, who finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. “I can’t tell exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning from that for sure. I’m learning more than any other time in my life.” Yes, the Knicks schooled the young Spurs. And Brunson was the professor at the front of the classroom.

NYC Mayor Mamdani on the unifying joy of a Knicks win

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani is having the best time during this historic New York Knicks championship win. Whether he was sneaking into a bar to watch a game or putting a Knicks jersey over his signature suit during a heatwave, Mamdani has been visibly basking in the sheer joy and energy the sports team has brought to New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds.

The Knicks (4-1) snatched the win away from the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in Game 5 on Saturday night, June 13. This victory marked the team’s first NBA championship since 1973, when the Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers.

“HISTORY,” posted Mamdani shortly after on X. Many in their superstition have jokingly alluded to Mamdani in office as a good luck charm for the team. He went on to

express immense pride and excitement about the Knicks win, remarking that he didn’t sleep until after 3 a.m. on game night.

The last New York sports franchise overall to win a championship and get a parade was the WNBA’s New York Liberty team in 2024, which was the first ticker-tape parade ever for a New York-based women’s sports team.

“It has been year after year of believing that it could in fact be the year — year after year of heartbreaks and near-misses — and then to see this team over the course of this Finals run,” said Mamdani during an interview on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show on June 15. “It has been the fulfillment of all of that hope and all at once, and in many ways a reflection of what this city is at its best. And I think many of us are still — we’re still living off of the high of Saturday night.”

He noted the “beautiful full-circle” narrative of Knicks point guard Jalen ‘Captain Clutch’ Brunson,

who is the team captain 26 years after his father, Rick Brunson, played on the 1999 Knicks team and is now his son’s assistant coach.

But beyond the spectacle of sports, Mamdani said that the Knicks represent a true story of hope, grit, and resilience, one that New Yorkers have waited 53 years to see come to fruition.

“I know that there are some that try and diminish sports as a distraction, but sports are also a fulfillment of oneself and one’s vision for the world around them and what was one of the more beautiful things that I’ve seen over the course of this Finals run was how it was something people enjoyed together,” said Mamdani. “And I think it comes back to a vision of the city where we don’t have to know each other’s names — we don’t even have to know each other’s neighborhoods — we just have to know that we’re with other New Yorkers. And that’s what’s brought this team together. It’s the threshold of belong-

ing is just to be a part of the city. And this Knicks team has given us something that I truly haven’t seen for my entire life.”

oZ h r a n K w a me Mamdani .

He highlighted how the victory viscerally galvanized and united the city, bringing people from all boroughs, religions, colors, and economic statuses together in moments of pure joy as opposed to great tragedy.

“I was reading a piece this morning that wrote about oftentimes in our city’s history, this kind of unity comes in a moment of tragedy, and it’s so beautiful that this unity is coming from a moment of joy,” he said in a separate interview with ABC News.

To honor the team, Mamdani announced the first ticker-tape parade and Keys to City ceremony in Knicks history for Thursday, June 18 at 10 a.m. along the Canyon of Heroes in Manhattan, which concludes at City Hall. According to the Down-

town Alliance, former Mayor John Lindsay, another youthful mayor in the city’s history, discontinued tickertape parades when he took office in 1966. Though he occasionally broke with this policy, he denied the 1973 Knicks champions a proper parade homecoming in favor of a smaller reception.

Fans share special meaning of the Knicks’ championship

chip isn’t just a trophy. It’s decades of loyalty finally paying off … It’s proof that faith in something bigger than yourself can actually come full circle. It’s the city’s basketball soul finally being rewarded.”

Daney added that the win is “... the rare moment where everyone is rooting for the same thing, and that shared hope creates real community. Families bonding over generations of fandom and uniting the city. Co-workers who barely speak dapping each other up like they grew up on the same block.”

Some have been fans since they were in diapers. “I was born into bleeding orange and blue as the youngest of four boys, three of us real hoopers,” said Brooklyn native and retired corrections officer Ervin Jones. “I was seven when the Knicks won in 1973, and I remember watching with my brothers and dad on our floormodel Zenith color television in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Sunday morning, it sank in, watching all the celebrations over the city on social media.

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

The Knicks’ 2026 NBA championship has special meaning to a countless number of their fans. It has brought together family and strangers alike.

“This is a victory for the city, five decades in the making — the whole city,” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told the AmNews. He directly congratulated Knicks guard and fellow Brooklyn native Jose Alvarado on Sunday afternoon as both reveled in the team’s NBA Finals win over the San Antonio Spurs while enjoying the festivities on Sunday afternoon at the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.

“I’ve been a diehard fan for decades, and to see everyone come together around this team, to see them triumphant after so much adversity, is incredibly moving,” he said.

“New York is a basketball city at heart,” said Boe Daney, operations manager of the Taylormade Management Group. “The Knicks are woven into the identity of the five boroughs. This championship feels like the city just reclaimed its place in the basketball universe. For a lifelong Knicks fan, a

“I couldn’t stop holding back tears” Jones reflected. “My 29-yearold daughter Cydnii put it in perspective because she, too, was born a Knicks fan and understands what it means to her dad. She told her friends this was the best year of her father’s life: He turned 60, he celebrated 32 years of marriage on June 11, and the Knicks won the NBA championship on June 13.”

The joy spread outside of New York City for fans who have relocated elsewhere.

“Being born and raised in Harlem and growing up as a die-hard Knicks fan during the Patrick Ewing and John Starks era — this means everything to me,” said Melo Robinson, a master personal trainer based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “As a kid, I watched some great teams come close, but I never had the opportunity to witness the Knicks win a championship. To finally see it happen is a dream come true; not just for me, but for generations of Knicks fans who have waited decades for this moment.

“… It was built on teamwork, grit, resilience, and a collective belief in one another. That’s what New Yorkers relate to. This championship represents hard work, perseverance, and the heart of a city that never quits.”

The joy of a fan finally experiencing a KnicKs championship

By JASON GONZALEZ Special to the Amsterdam News

The New York Knicks are NBA champions!

Those words sound beautiful, don’t they? When the final buzzer sounded on Saturday in the Knicks’ 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs to capture the NBA Finals 4-1, the weight of more than five decades of generational sports trauma vanished into thin air. Almost immediately, my mind went to my father, who didn’t live to see this day. I thought of the agony I’ve endured as a lifelong fan, and of the city I love so dearly. I’ll admit, I shed a tear or two.

Much like the tortured fan base of the Dallas Cowboys, being a Knicks fan required a faith bordering on delusion for as long as I can remember. It meant believing that somehow, someday, the franchise at Madison Square Garden would stand alone at the summit of the basketball world. It meant endur-

ing heartbreak after heartbreak, only to convince yourself that next season would be different. Today, every ounce of that stubborn loyalty has been rewarded.

If you’re a Knicks fan, pain isn’t just part of the experience — it is the experience. Our collective memory is flooded with moments that still sting. We watched Michael Jordan break our hearts throughout the ’90s, treating the Garden like his personal playground. We saw Reggie Miller score eight points in nine seconds, a devastating burst that felt like a recurring nightmare.

We endured the Charles Smith game. We endured the Patrick Ewing missed finger-roll. We watched John Starks go cold in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals, shooting us out of what felt like our best chance at glory.

Then there was our brush with the “what-might-have-beens.” For a long, bleak stretch, elite free agents treated the Mecca like a ghost town; names like Kevin Durant, Dwyane

Wade, Chris Bosh, and Kawhi Leonard chose to play elsewhere.

The years that followed brought a different kind of pain as organizational dysfunction became the norm. I survived the dark ages of the Isiah Thomas era, which left fans perpetually embarrassed. The Phil Jackson experiment promised salvation but delivered only stagnation. Then came the Steve Mills era — an endless cycle of unfulfilled plans and draft lotteries that never broke our way, missing out on the likes of Stephen Curry, Ja Morant, and Zion Williamson.

Yet, through it all, the Garden remained packed to the rafters because New York never stopped caring. We survived on flashes of joy. The most unforgettable was “Linsanity” in 2012. For a few magical weeks, Jeremy Lin electrified the city and proved that New York basketball could still capture the world’s imagination. Even that fairy tale was short-lived, though — another bright moment that faded

without delivering lasting success.

I remember my dad, who watched Walt Frazier and Willis Reed win it all in ’73, spending his remaining days trying to convince me that the Garden would raise another banner sooner than I thought. I can still hear his voice, smooth and resonant like a Sam Cooke record. I think about all those miserable winters watching sub-.300 teams, trying to convince myself that a mid-season trade would fix the foundational rot. I was even in the minority who believed LeBron James was coming to the Big Apple to save us.

None of it happened, but today, all of that misery, all the mocking from rival fan bases — especially across

the river in Brooklyn — is finally validated. It was all worth it. When the championship became official, the relief was as overwhelming as the joy. Relief that the curse was broken. Relief that Charles Smith, Reggie Miller, and John Starks’ Game 7 struggles are no longer the final word on Knicks basketball. Relief that an entire generation can finally experience what our elders only described to us. Make no mistake: This championship doesn’t erase the past. The pain is part of the story — but it happened, folks, and a new banner will rise to the iconic ceiling of Madison Square Garden. No one’s going to take this moment from me, nor from us.

By MADISON J. GRAY Amsterdam News Executive Editor

New Yorkers have hungrily yearned for the sweetness of an NBA Finals victory since 1973. Fans have spent decades wishing they could share the joy seen in other cities, but let me tell you: when you finally get it, your city feels different. How do I know? I lived it.

June 13, 1989, marked the beginning of one of the best summers Detroit, where I was born and raised, had seen in decades. That was the

day the Pistons gave us the NBA crown. Yeah, I know this is New York’s moment, but humor me for a second, pham. It was a magical time back then if you were a basketball fan. The league was hotter than it had ever been.

The Motor City had previously experienced championships with the Tigers in 1984 and 1968, but other sports were in a drought. The Lions had never been to a Super Bowl (and are still waiting for their turn), and the Red Wings were still a few years away from clinching the Stanley Cup. But then there was the "Bad Boys."

Why Knicks championship means NYC

is about to have one hell of a summer

across newspapers and televisions, signifying that Magic Johnson had been deposed as king of the court in a sweep of the Lakers. That victory shifted the attitude of the entire city.

Detroit was on top of the world, regardless of the critics. As a majority-Black city, we could finally boast that we were winners. It wasn’t our first championship, but it was our first NBA title, and it felt monumental. We were outside that summer with a heavy case of main character syndrome.

The Big Apple itself is no stranger to championships. World Series wins for the Yankees are so commonplace they are expected. Giants, Mets and Rangers fans have also known victory in recent memory.

The most recent champs were the Liberty in 2024. But Knicks fans have not struck gold in 53 years. To put that in perspective, 1973 was the year Richard Nixon’s presidency collapsed under the Watergate scandal. The United States officially exited Vietnam. Abraham Beame was elected New York mayor, inheriting an essentially bankrupt city. That same summer, DJ Kool Herc hosted parties on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, giving birth to the global phenomenon of hip hop.

our city became the best place in the world to us. That summer, you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone in “Bad Boys” gear or a jersey representing their favorite player. The pride only grew the following year when the Pistons defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in five games. This was the era when people started saying with their chest to the world, “What Up, Doe!” We’ve been repping like that ever since.

New Yorkers certainly know how to rep their city, their boroughs, and their neighborhoods. This summer, you’re going to do it wearing orange and blue. The song of the summer will likely be French Montana’s Knicks remix of “Ever Since You Left Me.” You can also expect Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” Ja Rule’s “New York,” and Busta Rhymes’ “New York Sh*t” to top everyone’s playlist.

The last time New York celebrated an NBA championship, they had already taken the title before in 1970, so that was a continuation of what had already happened. But this is different. This is something people’s grandparents remember from their youth but never had the chance to pass it on until now.

That group of physical basketball renegades spent the late ‘80s climbing the playoff ladder. After a heartbreaking loss in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals to Boston and a narrow loss in the 1988 NBA Finals to the Lakers, 1989 was finally the Pistons’ year.

The moment Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Joe Dumars, James Edwards, Rick Mahorn, John Salley, and coach Chuck Daly claimed the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, everything changed. Images of Thomas kissing the trophy flashed

Since that time, New York has endured the Son of Sam, the 1977 blackout, John Lennon’s assassination, the HIV/AIDS crisis, the Central Park Five, the crack epidemic, the September 11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, Superstorm Sandy, and COVID-19, among many other challenges.

A city can withstand a lot. Detroit has endured numerous trials since the 1967 social uprising, which many argue still impacts the city today. We even had a mayor, Coleman Young, whom the right wing hated — much like the contemporary political climate surrounding Zohran Mamdani. The difference was that Young had no problem cursing out anyone who dissed Detroit. Mamdani hasn’t quite reached that level — yet.

But once the Pistons brought home the NBA Championship,

When you finally get something that has been out of reach your whole life, you see the world through a different lens. You hear it with different ears. Everything becomes about what you had to overcome to get where you are. Your heroes are the people who got you there. All you can talk about is the prize you’ve earned. That is what you will be engrossed in for the next several months.

People in other cities will envy you. As a premier travel destination, expect pilgrimages to what is now reclaimed as a basketball mecca.

When you live in a city that holds this crown — when your NBA squad has given you this level of pride — the summer hits different. You can truly say you are kings of the world. Because you are.

Congratulations, New York. It’s going to be a hell of a summer.

Mike Brown proves to be the Knicks’ right man at the right time

By JAIME C. HARRIS

AmNews Sports Editor

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

— William Shakespeare

Mike Brown was doubted.

Did he possess the necessities to be a championship head coach? Was he the right man to replace Tom Thibodeau and accomplish what his predecessor fell short of achieving — leading the Knicks to an NBA title?

“Our goal is to build a sustainable winning culture that produces championships,” Brown said to assembled media at his introductory press conference as Knicks head coach last July. “That’s why I’m here.”

There were tortured Knicks fans who objected to Brown’s hiring on July 7, 2025 by team owner James Dolan and team president Leon Rose after a month-long search that at times appeared desperate and unfocused. They met with 10 prospective coaches. Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks), Quin Snyder (Atlanta Hawks) and Billy Dono-

van (Chicago Bulls) were names reported to be higher than Brown, although the Knicks were denied permission to speak with Kidd and Snyder by their employers. Brown was ostensibly the fallback choice.

Kidd was fired by the Mavs in May, Dono van resigned from his posi tion with the Bulls in April and Snyder signed an extension with the Hawks last week.

“I’m pretty good at trying to control what I can control,” Brown said last weekend. “I had zero control over who else was interviewing or who was denied permission. I had zero control over that. I just did the best I could in the interview process.”

A large segment of the media debated whether the military brat from Columbus, Ohio, who attended Wurzburg American High School in Germany while his father was serving in the U.S. Air Force, was an upgrade from Thibodeau, who was canned three days after the Knicks were eliminated from the 2025 Eastern Conference

Finals by the Indiana Pacers. Brown knew what it took to win a championship having been an assistant coach on the San Antonio Spurs’ 2003 title squad, the head coach of the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers swept 4-0 by the Spurs in the finals, and winning three Larry O’Brien Trophies as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors from 2016 through the 2022 seasons. His tenures as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers (2011-2012), Cavaliers again (20132014) and Sacramento Kings (20222024) were uneven.

So the jaded legion of Knicks fans doubted. And the doubt was palpa-

ble as winter slowly made its way through the calendar — New York went 2-9 from December 31 to January 19, falling to 25-18 and bearing little resemblance to a championship contender.

When the lowly Mavericks took a 75-47 halftime lead on the Knicks on January 19, boos reverberated throughout Madison Square Garden as the home team went on to lose 11497. That night feels like a distant memory. So does the evening of April 23, when doubt pierced the spirit of Knicks diehards as they fell behind 2-1 to the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs.

But Brown remained steady and solution-oriented under immense pressure. Dolan had proclaimed in a January interview on WFAN Radio that his expectations were for the Knicks not just to reach the finals — but to win. It was the last game they would lose until June 8, Game

3 of the NBA Finals, a close 115-111 defeat to the Spurs. Five days later, the 56-year-old Brown, 34 years removed from his collegiate play-

ing days at San Diego State and two and a half years detached from being fired by the Kings, was at last a head coaching champion.

“He’s the reason why we’re here, and we’ve got love for him,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said on Saturday regarding Brown. “He understands what it is to be a champion. He understands how to build a team, how to build habits that will put you in this position. We’re so grateful, so thankful to have him at the top. He kept us even so many times. He’s brought the best out of us, as people first.”

Brown has been lauded by Knicks players for being receptive to their suggestions, attuned to who they are emotionally and mentally, as well as hyper-conscious of the needs of the individual and the collective.

“I love my players, I love the organization, but most importantly, let’s go New York; we can’t wait to get home and celebrate.” Brown exclaimed near midnight on Saturday in San Antonio.

Brown and this socially and culturally galvanizing Knicks team are now immortalized in New York City’s identity.