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Knicks Win NBA Championship Series 4 Games To 1. Aired 11:30p- 12a ET

Aired June 14, 2026 - 23:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:31:15]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN Newsroom. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. A very important place in the basketball world as New York City is celebrating the 53-year-long drought is over. The Knicks have won their first NBA championship since 1973 after staging yet their -- yet another dramatic comeback in two games.

The New York Knickerbockers, as they're known, defeated the Spurs 94 to 90 at San Antonio. What we're showing you right now is celebrations in the streets right now. People cannot believe that they were finally able to make it over this threshold and do something the city has not seen in more than five decades. This is the franchise's third ever NBA title.

And when you look at the series, the New Yorkers had trailed for most of the game until breaking through in the fourth quarter, which, if that sounds familiar, that's because it's happened multiple times throughout this series. These fans have been watching, bated breath, have seen their teams go down in the beginnings of games and then have found a way to stay with it as their teams have clawed back and the Knicks found a way to get it done in this series 4 to 1.

We have reporters throughout the city right now that have been at these watch parties tracking what's been going on, celebrating in some cases with these fans. And this comes, by the way, a game after we saw the largest comeback in NBA Finals history by the Knicks coming back from when they were down by 29 points at halftime.

If you were anywhere in New York City right now, you have seen these celebrations. There were watch parties happening throughout the city. And one, we were monitoring them. You see some fireworks going off. They wasted absolutely no time getting those off.

But when you talk to New Yorkers, look, this is a generational win for many of them. We talked about how long it's been since the last Knicks championship, 53 years. In the 70s, when they won in 1970 and 1973, that's your grandparents' titles. So if you're sitting here today, that's something that they would have remembered.

I spoke to superfan Spike Lee and John Turturro earlier this week. They remember seeing that as kids and teenagers. And then decades later in the 90s, they're in the finals in 1994, in 1999. That might be something that parents of New Yorkers remember, seeing if the Knicks could break over that threshold, going to seven games in 1994, facing off against the San Antonio Spurs in '99, but not quite getting it done.

And then 27 years later, after their last finals appearance, ironically, against the Spurs, they found a way to get it done in dominating fashion. I should mention one of the most dominating playoffs runs we have seen. The Knicks led the league in NBA history in terms of point differential coming into the finals.

And so what we're seeing in New York is a celebration, not just of what we saw over the course of this, but a celebration of really generations of Knicks fans that have been waiting for some sort of breakthrough. So we're going to get you into some of the celebrations in a little bit here as we get some of our reporters up, again, likely celebrating as part of this too.

But I also want to bring in former New York Knicks guard Charlie Ward, who started in the 1999 finals against the San Antonio Spurs. And as I was mentioning, 27 years ago, that was the last time the Knicks had gotten even close to this threshold.

[23:35:00]

Charlie, good to see you. You're watching, I'm sure. How are you feeling?

CHARLIE WARD, FORMER NEW YORK KNICKS GUARD (1994-2004): Of course. Very, very excited. You know, 27 years ago, we were on the opposite side of this. So definitely excited for the guys bringing it home. This is a very similar situation that we were in 27 years ago, where, you know, they won it on our floor. So I'm just excited, very excited, very excited.

JIMENEZ: You know, what's interesting is, you know, if I'm not mistaken, you had also a stint on the Spurs at one point too, but really the 99 finals was when you were on the Knicks. Can you just put into perspective what New Yorkers are feeling, what the Knicks organization is feeling after, again, doing something they haven't been able to do since the 1970s?

WARD: Well, I mean, New York is a place that's very similar to L.A. It's that place where everybody likes to be. And when you have a champion there, from a professional standpoint, it's even crazier. But, you know, it's a long time coming.

We had multiple opportunities in the 90s, '94 and '99, and we weren't able to get it done. And so I'm just so happy for the guys being able to pull through for the franchise. There are quite a few years where there was no playoffs, and now, you know, they won the end-season championship, and now they won the NBA championship.

So, you know, just kudos to the guys. I'm very excited for and happy for the franchise as well. JIMENEZ: Charlie, stand by for us here, because what we're showing on the screen is we are showing the crowds in New York City that have gathered by what look like the thousands across blocks of the city.

WARD: Of course.

JIMENEZ: You can see the flashing lights of police trying to just keep an eye on people. But, you know, driving through the city tonight, there were watch parties on what felt like every few blocks, people watching all up and down Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, every single borough in this city. And, look, this is something that the city has obviously waited decades for, fans as well.

I talked about that generational culmination here. We have reporters out in --

WARD: Yes.

JIMENEZ: -- some of these celebrations right now. Shimon Prokupecz is in some of this celebration, as I understand, from where else, Madison Square Garden. So, Shimon, if you can hear me, what's going on out there?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I can hear you. I can hear you. So, I mean, everyone obviously is very excited.

Hey, how are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, man. I'm hanging in there. I'm a wreck right now.

I'm hanging in there.

PROKUPECZ What's going on? How are you feeling? Talk about your emotions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been a fan for like 30-some years now, my whole life. You know, my mom made me a big fan. My mom is over here.

And I'm just happy. I'm really, really happy right now. I flew all the way here from California. I had to be here for this moment. And I'm just so glad I'm here right now.

I spent my last dollar to get here. I don't regret it at all.

PROKUPECZ: Did you think they were going to do it tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew we would. I knew we would. I knew. But still, nothing prepares you for it, you know? But I knew we were going to do it tonight.

PROKUPECZ: Did you feel any tension, especially when they were down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This team is resilient, man. We've been doing this all -- can I curse? We've been doing this shit all year. So, we were down over 30 the last game. It's nothing. I knew we would do it. I knew we would do it.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. Tell the people what this means for New York, what this means for you, your family, your life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means everything, man. Everything. This is -- man, I got teased all my life for being a Knicks fan. When we lost in '99, I went to school the next day, and they teased me. Man, this is deep, man. This is big for New York, too.

I love this, man. Next to my family basketball is my Knicks love. I love this, man.

PROKUPECZ: What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Maron (ph).

PROKUPECZ: John?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John.

PROKUPECZ: Thank you so much for sharing your story, man. Congratulations, all right? Enjoy this night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Shimon, we're going to get right back to you. Your audio went out. We could hear some of the interview, but your audio went out.

We're going to get right back to Shimon as soon as we get that fixed. But you can see the celebration and the emotion on the faces and the voices of the fans that he's been talking to.

As I understand, Mark Morales also out in one of these parties. We were showing the crowds. I mean, this crowd was out, by the way, before the game was over.

[23:40:05]

These are people that were watching on the sides of buildings as the game was projected onto the sides of buildings. People wheeled out screens onto the sidewalks, again, across multiple neighborhoods here in New York City, with the anticipation that the Knicks would do what they just did, winning their first championship since 1973.

One of those locations is where our Mark Morales is, who joins us from Central Park right now. Mark, if you can hear me, what is -- what's going on out there?

MARK MORALES, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Omar. This is a (INAUDIBLE).

JIMENEZ: And Mark --

MORALES: (INAUDIBLE).

JIMENEZ: Mark, we could only hear every other word that you were saying, but I think that's par for the course out in New York City right now. There are so many people on the streets celebrating this Knicks win. Again, this was something that they had been waiting decades for.

You see people out on their fire escapes, on their balconies, clinging on the side in some cases. Everybody's waving. You got them on the rooftop there, as well. I mean, this is a citywide celebration.

And, you know, I want to bring back in former New York Knicks Guard Charlie Ward, because, look, New York City has a lot of sports teams, you know? But typically, fans are sometimes split between the Yankees, Mets, the MLB, Jets, Giants, and the NFL. Tell us a little bit about why this win, a Knicks win means so much to New York City.

WARD: Well, I mean, there are New Yorkers and New York Knicks fans all over the place. Everywhere I've gone, even today, here in Gainesville, Florida, and I was at a, you know, live period, and there are Knicks fans in there. And so this is just a great moment for all those that have lived all those years of misery, coming close and not having an opportunity to feel this moment.

And all the times that they've been talked about over the years, it just came to a head. You know, Jalen Brunson was not going to allow them to lose. And when you're going to win a championship, you got to have guys like that. And they did what they've been doing all year, which is staying close, playing, being connected, and they were able to pull it out.

So this is a great moment for all New Yorkers. And of course, this is going to be going on for quite some time, even until probably next year.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, just to put some of what the Knicks did into perspective basketball-wise, is, one, they came into the finals with the largest point differential in wins of any team in NBA history. And then when you look at how this finals actually played out, I believe the Spurs led by double digits in every single game of this series.

And the Knicks still found a way to come back, including the biggest comeback in finals history over the course of Game 4. Charlie, I want to get back out to the crowds right now, because I believe we've got Shimon Prokupecz, who's been outside Madison Square Garden. He was just interviewing that fan that was literally in tears trying to process it.

Shimon, what are you seeing?

PROKUPECZ: Everyone right now is watching the trophy presentation, and there's a lot of emotion here, Omar. These are people who have been true fans. There are young people here. There are older people here.

And it's been a very tense evening, because obviously the Knicks had to come back from behind, and they did it again. And no one here, no one here gave up. People stuck through it.

And every time you felt the Knicks were about to come back, there'd be just eruption and the emotion of just this series. And the playoffs has boiled over, really, when you look at the emotion on many of the people's faces here.

[23:45:12]

Let's show some of the people here in the crowd here. But many of these people have been out here now for almost five hours watching, waiting for the start of this game. And so many people here just smiling right now, so happy, looking forward to that parade.

And, you know, just having this moment for so many here, I was talking to some people earlier, were saying just what this has been like the last few weeks to be able to focus on so much joy and so much happiness that this has brought to their lives. And we're seeing a lot of that out here.

So many of the fans here right now are watching the trophy presentation, so I don't really want to disturb them and interrupt their joy, right? They're all just here together celebrating. I will say to you, many of the police officers that are out here have been celebrating with the crowd here, been high-fiving them.

And now we're hearing March chants of Jalen Brunson here. This party's not going to end tonight. This is going to go on through the night, and through the morning, and into tomorrow, and then Monday, and Tuesday, and all week.

And for what this means for the NBA also, and what this means for the Knicks organization, it's life-changing for everyone here, certainly, in New York City. So I think everyone at this moment should just enjoy what this is bringing to them. And we'll be talking to people here all through the night, I'm sure, and looking for people as they take to the streets to celebrate, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And Shimon, as you've been talking, we have been showing aerials of the city. And, I mean, it is just an absolute sea of people. You can barely even see the road in this particular shot right now as watch parties, again, out on the streets through the whole city.

And again, this was a game that was played in San Antonio, and yet people were out, outside MSG, which is where Shimon is, but also out across all boroughs of this city, hoping that the Knicks could get it done.

And Shimon, just for you, as a New Yorker, as someone who has followed this team for a long time, what are you feeling right now?

PROKUPECZ: I have a lot of emotion. You know, I tell this story when I was a kid, like a teen in the 90s. I would sneak into Madison Square Garden. I was friends with a security guard. And during the 94 run, he would sneak me in. I mean, it was much easier to do that back then.

And I saw some epic games but it's not only the Knicks. I love Hockey as well. And I have spent many epic nights in Madison Square Garden, but nothing like Wednesday night.

And being out here tonight with these fans, New Yorkers -- and I grew up in Brooklyn. Basketball was a big part of my life. I didn't really play, but I did other things with basketball that I could do. But I loved basketball always as a kid. And just being here tonight and being part of this.

It's emotional. It's amazing. What this does for New York is unspeakable. It's unspeakable. Because to be a basketball fan in this city is like nothing else. You know, we have a lot of sports teams in this city. We're blessed with a lot of teams, like the Yankees.

But there is nothing like being a Knicks fan and nothing like seeing this team win. Their love for each other, their respect, their devotion to each other. I was blessed enough the last few weeks, really the last week, to be around this team during some of the press conferences, some of the warm-ups. And seeing how they were with each other was so special.

And the fans out here, the people who live in this city, could feel how special this team is. And this is going to last, this feeling is going to last a really, really long time for all of us here who live here and grew up here.

JIMENEZ: You know, as you were talking, Jalen Brunson, I'm sure they were showing him on the screen, named Finals MVP. It's the most recognizable Knicks player, really, at this point, and cementing himself in Knicks history as one of the all-time greats, again, as he's named that Finals MVP.

I want to bring back Charlie Ward for a little bit of perspective, because, you know, I was talking to Spike Lee earlier this week. And one of the things I asked him was that despite New York City being the largest city in the country, despite the fame of the Knicks, the largest media market, et cetera, they haven't won the titles that Boston has, that Los Angeles has, Chicago, even San Antonio as an organization. And yet the Knicks have stayed hot. The support for the Knicks has remained.

[23:50:14]

And Spike told me that was partly because basketball is king in New York City. And that culture of basketball permeates to an NBA fandom.

WARD: Right.

JIMENEZ: How much of that culture did you see up close when you played for the team here?

WARD: Well, I mean, it's -- you know, even throughout the years when we were struggling, you know, from our years until, you know, recently when Coach Thibodeau was brought on. And, you know, one of the things that's always been true is the Knicks fans travel.

You know, regardless of where we've been, especially in Miami, Philly, they travel, New Jersey, when they were in New Jersey, they always travel. And that was such a big opportunity for us to feed off of that, because we knew that they were going to always be there. And even today, as I mentioned earlier, you know, everywhere we go, or

everywhere I've been, you know, you're going to run into a New York Knicks fan. And so it's just, you know, heartwarming, you know, and they're very passionate. Whether you're losing or winning, it's still passionate.

And -- but that's just New York in general. And so, like you mentioned, there are a lot of professional teams there, but most of the people root for the Knicks. I mean, like the majority of the city roots for the Knicks.

And so it's just heartwarming to be able to have the Knicks fans have this opportunity, because it's been a long time coming. And I'm just so, so happy to be a part of it.

JIMENEZ: You know, we've been showing these images again, as we have throughout all of this show. And for people watching, this is not the parade. These aren't people that spilled out of MSG and are out on the streets. The game is in San Antonio.

And yet you've got thousands out on the New York City streets celebrating right now on this Saturday night. People were out to begin with. But even if you were out to begin with, you couldn't walk far without seeing the game again, projected on the side of the screen, on the side of a building or at a sports bar.

You'd see people spilled out onto the streets. And I was at the last game. I covered the last home game. So the one before this, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. This was the shirt that they were given out. Says, "New York forever."

And how many people tonight are yelling that out on the streets, New York forever with the Larry O'Brien trophy in the middle of that Knicks shirt. That's what fans were wearing and repping as they saw their team get one step closer to history. And then here tonight, they cross that threshold and they do something they have not done since literally the 1970s.

As I mentioned, we have reporters throughout the city tonight, including our Mark Morales, who has been in Central Park for us, where there was a major watch party happening. A lot of people can fit in Central Park too.

Mark, if you can hear me, what did you see there over the course of -- oh, not in Central Park anymore. Now he's walking. What do you see in there on the streets of the city after this Knicks championship?

MORALES: You know, Omar, the party is moving. We've just left Central Park. And if you can look at this crowd, these were all people that were inside of Central Park and we're just going downtown. And we're not sure where this group is headed, but we do know that as has happened for a lot of these celebrations, everybody goes downtown. They end up going towards.

Now, it's interesting that we're right here seeing the school bus. You saw that guy just sort of throw the cones. And this is really where it's really starting to hit home that they've actually won. And you're seeing a lot of joy in the streets and everybody's really experiencing this in a different way.

If you're a younger fan, it's just pure joy. It's jumping up and down, screaming, saying, Knicks in five. If you're an older fan, then you remember the pain. So, like, and as you can hear these horns, like, New York is a party right now. Like, that's what's happened.

And everybody's experiencing it in their own way. And, like, if you're an older fan, it's so emotional for you because like I not only remember a lot of the successful great times, but I also remember a lot of the painful moments. There's the finger roll.

There's losing in '99. There was, you know, Patrick Ewing getting hurt. There was the doldrums of the 2010s. There was so much that happened that really puts this victory into perspective because it's not just that they won, it's that, like, the wait is over.

[23:55:18]

That feeling that your team will never compete, will never be on that level, that's now over too. And you feel that amongst all these people, amongst all this crowd. And that's been -- and what she said right there, Knicks in five. That's been the common greeting. That's been the mantra.

When there was still a chance to win in four, I would walk down the street wearing my Knicks t-shirt and people would just throw up the number four. Like, it's -- yes. And if you look at this guy, right here. Here. Like, as you can see, there is this procession heading down toward. And Radio City was the scene of one watch party not too long earlier in the evening.

So we're not sure where that crowd over there is headed. But we do know that everybody seems to head down towards Madison Square Garden, which as we know is very heavily secure right now. But so far as of right now, from the people that we've seen, from everybody that's around here, it's a lot of joy. It's a lot of excitement.

I mean, we're just walking in the street right now. We're not even on the sidewalk. And there's no concern that anything is going to happen because it's almost like all of New York is in on the same party.

Omar?

JIMENEZ: You know, Mark, as we've been watching you walk, I mean, literally with people that seem to be attracted to the basketball mecca of the world, that is Madison Square Garden. You know, last year, the Knicks got close and a lot of people thought that they were going to beat the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and have a chance at the NBA Finals. And there were a lot of heartbreakers in there, including a last minute shot by Halliburton.

Can you just tell us a little bit about this Knicks team and how this team evolved over the years to finally get over this threshold and bring the joy that we are seeing play out live on the streets of New York City?

MORALES: You know, this is a team that in retrospect, you needed to have them experience all those heartbreaking losses just so they could actually close things out the way they did. The team kind of developed this killer instinct, as you've seen in all this -- in every series that they played this year.

And I think it's because a lot of these heartbreaking moments, I mean, we go back two years ago when they played the Pacers, a lot of people considered them the better team, and they lost that one too. And then last year, I mean, when you talk about that game, it's burned in my brain that that image of Halliburton doing the choke sign, which was obviously a throwback to Reggie Miller in '94.

And for a lot of Knicks fans, that is some grade A trauma. Because just seeing that, just seeing him do that brought back so many awful memories for so many fans in the pits of our stomach. And that's all you had to do. That's all you had to show and people felt that pain.

But it was that pain that I think taught them how to play together, how to win, and how to close out. Because this game wasn't easy. We were talking before. The very end of the game turned into this free throw match. And, you know, it's one of the hardest shots to make. It's so tense.

And they're able to do it, I think, in part because they had all that pain. They had all that experience. They had all that loss.

JIMENEZ: Mark, yes, we've been following you. And I was just asking if we had our other reporter, Shimon Prokupecz, who's also been out on the streets. So we're going to try and get him back in a second.

And Mark, keep us posted. We're going to keep following you. And let's see where everybody actually ends up.

But bottom line, the streets of New York City are celebrating tonight for something they have not done in over five decades, beating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 to capture their first NBA Finals in that amount of time.

I want to bring in CNN Sports Analyst and Sports Columnist for USA Today, Christine Brennan, who has covered sports all your life, all your professional life, I believe. And I mean, you remember, I have to think, the Finals runs and how close they got in the 90s and the heartbreak, especially in 1994 of Game 7, getting so close to doing something of which had not been done in a generation at that time.

Can you just tell us a little bit about the journey that the Knicks organization has been on to get to this pinnacle now and explain the celebrations for -- that we're seeing from a lot of fans on the streets?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Omar, I remember the 1970s as a girl growing up --