NEW YORK — A wave of celebrating fans took over southern Manhattan this Thursday morning (18) during the New York Knicks’ NBA title parade, symbolically ending a playoff campaign that united the city in a way few events have managed in recent years.
The celebration came six years after the arrival of Covid-19 in New York, when the population spent months isolated at home and large gatherings disappeared from the city’s routine. At that moment, sport served little as a refuge: the NBA playoffs were played in a bubble, away from the public — and the Knicks weren’t even in it.
Since then, many New Yorkers have seemed reluctant to gather in crowded spaces again. But as the Knicks went 15 in 16 games to the title over the San Antonio Spurs, sharing each game became almost a necessity — a reminder of how the city could still feel.
When the parade officially began at 10 a.m., a tide of blue and orange had already taken over Manhattan, filling sidewalks, side streets, subway stations and balconies overlooking Broadway. There were those who spent the night on the route to guarantee a place in the front row as soon as the police opened the areas reserved for the public, at 6am.
Although participation was free, the event generated a parallel market, with people offering hundreds of dollars to strangers to reserve space along the route. Those who arrived late were left without access and had to watch the party on television, in snack bars and delis in the region.
The so-called Corridor of Heroes, a route surrounded by skyscrapers and the traditional stage for the city’s great tribute parades, hosted a celebration of this size for the Knicks for the first time. The franchise’s last title, won more than 50 years ago, was marked only by a much more modest ceremony at city hall.
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Fans who managed to maintain their positions along the way were rewarded with the proximity of the team’s stars, such as Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson. Brunson, who scored 45 points in the game that sealed the title, appeared next to the Larry O’Brien trophy and also walked through the crowd.
The Knicks’ campaign, between April and early June, helped to paper over divisions that mark the city: between rich and poor, natives and newcomers, longtime fans and so-called opportunists. If the pandemic exposed some of these fissures, the team’s charisma and winning streak seemed to reduce, at least temporarily, these gaps.
“This is one of the few things I’ve seen unite New Yorkers of different genders and races,” Reverend Al Sharpton said before Game 3. “You walk down the street and everyone has something Knicks on. That’s healthy.”
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Still, some of the conflicts reappeared during the finals. They were visible in the high ticket prices at Madison Square Garden, the disputes between the franchise owner, James Dolan, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in addition to the security restrictions imposed by the police around the arena.
Mamdani was never seen as a die-hard Knicks fan, but he became close to the team during the final stretch of the campaign. He got a ticket to Game 3, signed a symbolic “executive order” suspending bedtime for young fans, and stayed awake until 3 a.m. on title night.
At the same time, he was responsible for managing the operations of the largest police department in the United States, criticized for blocking public parties around Madison Square Garden and imposing strong control on the streets. This provoked public friction with Dolan, who accused the mayor and his team of lacking experience and even questioned whether they were real fans of the team.
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Even so, the conquest served as a truce. According to city hall, Mamdani and Dolan spoke again after last week’s crisis and worked together to organize the parade.
The finals also took the city’s elite to downtown Manhattan. Tickets cost thousands — and in some cases, tens of thousands — of dollars. The Garden audience booed both President Donald Trump and San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, and attracted celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and Spike Lee, all of whom attended the parade.
This Thursday’s event also had strong security. Police directed spectators to designated areas and barred entry to anyone carrying bags. Many fans were prevented from entering.
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If the feeling of unity created by the title tends to lose strength in the coming weeks, the parade may end up being remembered as a rare moment of cohesion in a city crossed by social, political and economic tensions.
Richard Emery, an 80-year-old civil rights lawyer and “lifelong” Knicks fan, summed up the feeling when he said the unity around the team was “real, tangible, palpable and unlike anything we’ve ever had in this city, maybe in my entire life.”
“What this represents, on a fundamental level, is recognition of character,” he said, praising the team and, in particular, Brunson. “It’s very rare when character is what people admire and turn into heroism.”
“There’s no resentment there,” he said. “It’s pure admiration. It’s pure heart and soul.”
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