Jalen Brunson leads Knicks to first title in 53 years as New York erupts

It’s about a game, it’s about overcoming challenges, it’s about overcoming challenges, and it’s about a city that’s at once big and glamorous but also depressingly difficult to live in.

But the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years is not just a New York story. Their teamwork, discipline and dedication became a national story, a Cinderella story. They touched hearts in a highly cynical culture.

Imagine politicians acting like this. If they put aside their extreme partisanship and ideological agendas for the good of the country. If only their default settings were cooperation and compromise, rather than gaining credibility and demonizing rivals. OK, you’re right. It is very difficult to imagine.

It’s not how many points Jalen Brunson scores (45 points in Game 5 that single-handedly led the Knicks to victory). This is about him being cast aside as weak and undersized (by NBA standards) for a long time. The 6-foot-10 Brunson, who wasn’t drafted until the second round, had something to prove. Think about the people who feel slighted or misunderstood in their work and how deeply they want their values ​​to be recognized.

TAYLOR SWIFT DANCES, MAKES SHIMS AND STEALS THE HEADLINES AS THE KNICK ERASES 29-POINT HOLES IN THE NBA FINALS

It’s about the greatest city in the world, but also the most frustrating city in the world. I once wrote that New Yorkers lived under conditions that would lead to riots in any other city, and I have not changed my view. Everyone is squeezed together. It’s pointlessly overcrowded.

As a guy from Brooklyn who plays in a league and an asphalt jungle and has to sit on the sidelines for long periods of time when you lose, I don’t pretend to be impartial. We were playing football in the street and had to stop every time a car came. This was before I went out onto the fairway because someone had punched a hole in the fence. Very Noo Yawk.

More than 4 million people ride subways every day, often at the bottom of deep tunnels, and have to navigate stop-and-go services during rush hour. Homelessness is a problem both in the subways and on the streets.

CHAOS EMERGES IN NEW YORK CITY AFTER THE KNICKS WIN THEIR FIRST NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

Many people live in small apartments where small bedrooms must be used as bedrooms, and they pay a lot of money for the privilege.

New York Knicks fans board buses as they celebrate after winning the NBA Finals in Times Square on June 14, 2026 in New York City. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

But still, as street crowds gathered across the five boroughs, they performed a rendition of a Frank Sinatra song: “I want to be a part of it, New York, New York…”

Of course, other cities have similar problems, which is why New York is quintessential urban America: taller buildings, dirtier streets, piles of garbage, more panhandlers, struggling schools, disgusting smells.

KNICKS FANS SENT NYC TO CHAOS AFTER THE FRANCHISE REACHED THEIR FIRST NBA FINALS SINCE 1999

And the traffic is terrible. Only Los Angeles is worse. Don’t show me any surveys, I know. Try entering the Lincoln Tunnel.

Therefore, authorities imposed a $9 entrance fee on anyone entering Manhattan from under 60th Street. And parking: Fugeddaboudit!

Unfortunately, after the Knicks’ victory, some thugs turned violent. 63 people were arrested, 10 police officers were injured, four people were stabbed and a 17-year-old boy was shot in the foot. This is the dark side of New York, coexisting with places like Broadway and Fifth Avenue.

Young Man Punched and Comatose After Knicks-Spurs Fight Near MADISON SQUARE GARDEN: POLICE

When I lived in New York, the biggest stories were about crime. Race riots. Murders. Central Park Five. Zodiac Killer. Al Sharpton was stabbed.

New York Knicks fans watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Things aren’t so bad in Apple and other cities these days, but there are still plenty of neighborhoods where you just cross the street to avoid trouble.

When I was leaving to return to Washington in 1990, I wrote a magazine article with Donald Trump on the cover. The hotel builder’s tabloid adventures, breathlessly reported by the New York Post — this was even before “The Apprentice” — symbolized a culture in which readers used celebrity gossip to distract themselves from the daily dreariness of their lives. He always called me back. I thought I would never have to deal with this guy again.

Stephen A Smith Chose Not to Dunk on Trump Following Knicks’ NBA Finals Victory

I was in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals when Willis Reed took the court for his first championship. In 1973, I watched on TV the team with İnci Earl now winning again. I didn’t know it would be a half-century wait until the next one, that it would take years for so many terrible teams.

There’s also a heartwarming father-son story, in which journeyman Jalen avenges his father after the 1999 Knicks lost the Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, and the normally stoic young Brunson breaks down in tears as they embrace.

If you look at the history of movies and television shows, everyone loves a good comeback. And that’s exactly what the Knickerbockers delivered in this series.

WNBA COACH DOUBLES UP JALEN BRUNSON’S DOUBTS DESPITE KNICK’S REACHING THE NBA FINALS

In each victory, the team fell behind by double digits and managed to come back; especially in Game 4, when the New Yorkers won despite a record-breaking 29-point lead thanks to OG Anunoby’s famous tip-in at the last second. Saturday night’s clincher was won in the final seconds.

Doesn’t this excite every youngster or former youngster who dreams of kicking the last-ditch goal or catching the winning pass?

It was also nice to see the immature, 6-foot-9 Victor Wembanyama, who acts like a creepy villain, miss the final shot in each of the last two contests.

KNICKS survived after JALEN BRUNSON’S CLUTCH SHOT SPOILED the Spurs and went up 2-0 in the NBA FINALS

I know, it’s just a game. There will be other games, other sports, other heroes.

But it hit a nerve, because the Knicks, who had won 13 in a row, always came from behind, were fed good passes, and were viewed as overachievers who were lucky enough to like the flowers to wilt when they faced a “real” tough team.

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