The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games to become NBA champions on Saturday, delivering New York City’s first basketball title in 53 years and ending one of the longest losing streaks in US sports history.
In a city where “mass unifying events tend to imply unbearable tragedy,” a wide variety of New Yorkers were united in celebration, The New York Times wrote, from the customary celebrities sitting courtside to the city’s democratic socialist mayor and President Donald Trump; the widespread euphoria was occasionally “marred by mayhem and violence,” the Associated Press noted.
The Knicks have long reigned supreme in the US’ largest media market, and their historically dominant playoff run led to the most-watched NBA Finals since 1998.