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New York Knicks Wins First Championship Since 1973. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired June 14, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:01]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: That we're seeing from a lot of fans from the streets.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Omar, I remember the 1970s. As a girl growing up --
JIMENEZ: I didn't want to go -- I didn't want to go there.
BRENNAN: Well, I'm happy to go there. You're very kind as a fellow Wildcat, but -- but as a girl growing up in the suburbs of Toledo, and I love basketball. I love the Toledo Rockets. And we went to Michigan games and watched. I watched the NBA a lot. And, you know, I remember Willis Reed and Walt Frazier and those great teams.
And so, to see the Knicks have a drought like, which I don't have to remind anyone 53 years, obviously until tonight, you know, that -- that was -- they were one of the, you know, my goodness, with Jerry Lucas and Bill Bradley and, you know, just incredible players. And to see this team return to the top, a legendary franchise, you know, it's something that, you know, I know you and I, with our Midwestern roots with northwestern -- you know, there's a lot of the country that doesn't necessarily love New York teams, right?
But in this case, the way the nation has rallied around the Knicks, I think it's Madison square garden. Your reporting has been fantastic. The way that people have come out into the streets, every part of this story has enchanted the entire country.
That's what's remarkable to me -- the sense that New York was able to unite the country around sports. And you had people, probably everyone except in San Antonio, right? And poor San Antonio, you know, what a run, but obviously a tough, a tough night.
But the nation was cheering for the Knicks. And I think it was the drought. I think it's the legacy, the great names from the past. As you said, the near misses in the '90s, but also Madison Square Garden. Every piece of this story just worked perfectly to have the final ending here.
I would say this, my last thought, Omar, on this is that it would have almost been cooler if it could have gone to game six, so that New Yorkers could have had that moment in the garden in New York. But I know, I know, they'll take this one tonight. JIMENEZ: Yeah. Based on what were seeing, I think they were going to
take it any way they could get it. But you bring up a good point on multiple fronts. One, of course, the San Antonio team, such a young team. I mean, their stars, and Victor Wembanyama only 22 years old, Dillon Harper, just 20 years old.
And when I was talking to Spike Lee earlier this week, he said specifically that he has so much respect for Victor Wembanyama that he believes that Wemby will win multiple championships.
And then when I pushed him, I said, what about this year? And he said, well, tough business. And that was games ago. He was that confident in his Knicks team. So the Spurs will be back. But this is the New York Knicks night. And I just want a little bit of your perspective on you talked about how big of a brand and a name the New York Knicks are.
But as an organization, you know they haven't won in the same way that the Lakers, the Celtics, I mean, the Spurs even -- even the warriors have as well. So, to see them do it in this way, in a way that they haven't done it in decades is really, really just incredible and historic.
Christine, stand by for one second because I believe we now have Shimon Prokupecz's signal, who's in the middle of this crowd here outside of Madison Square Garden, where again, there was a watch party before the game during, and now the party has started, the watching has ended.
Shimon, what are you seeing out there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, much like the other games, what happens is because Madison Square Garden, the area around Madison Square Garden is completely shut down. People are trying to get as close as they can. And so were about three to four blocks north of Madison Square Garden.
And you can see the police here are trying to clear, trying to clear this group. People --
(AUDIO GAP)
JIMENEZ: All right. And, Shimon, we seem to be having some audio issues again, but we can see your images.
And maybe while we work on that, we can just look at what were seeing right now. This is Shimon has been outside Madison Square Garden. People are out on the streets.
There are some police there keeping an eye on things. But you got people sitting on other people's shoulders. As we're showing in the other aerials, traffic at an absolute standstill as people are marching down the street celebrating. I mean, this is what New York City wanted. If you're a Knicks fan, there's Madison Square Garden lit up in the Knicks colors.
And like I said, I don't know if we still have Christine Brennan with us as well as we've been following some of these pictures. Christine, as I was saying before, you know, the Knicks haven't won in the same way that some of these other organizations have, despite them being on the on the biggest stage possible in New York City. Just compare this organization and how they've done and the pressure that this organization has had compared to some of those other teams that have won historically.
[00:05:04]
BRENNAN: Yeah. You know, Omar, I think there's probably people watching right now who remember when Patrick Ewing went to the Knicks. And it was almost -- there was even a question, was that the fix in, you know, because the Knicks were such an important franchise, in many -- you know, New York being New York, but also needing someone like Patrick Ewing to come there. And that was back in the draft, you know, in the '80s.
So yes, I think they have stood out for the remarkable nature of New York and everything that it stands for, and being the center of the -- obviously, the, the media universe, among many other things, financial, et cetera. But you're right. The success has not been there the way it has been with other franchises.
And there's nothing that a league would like more -- any of the big leagues in this country loves more than to have New York teams in their finals. You know, their TV ratings, everything about the marketing machinery, the sponsorship, it's, you know, it's New York is would be the first to, you know, that many would want to have. And that hasn't been the case, obviously, to the point you're making.
And so here it is. Now it has happened. And they can also -- you can see, I think there's a lot of people, a lot of sports fans, younger people who've never seen anything quite like this. And I think that's great, especially with the World Cup going on, to think that the Knicks are actually upstaging the World Cup, the biggest event in the world, I think that's also -- maybe that's just for tonight. Maybe that's just for a couple of days.
But the Knicks are a bigger story right now than the World Cup, at least in the United States. And that's saying something. I think it speaks to the remarkable nature of New York, how important it is to the sports landscape, to the financial power of sports and our culture and the entertainment world in general, all mixed in one. That's what we're watching tonight.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. I mean, the World Cup just getting started. It will have it's shine for sure in New York City. But walking down the street, people were thinking Knicks tonight in the U.S. and definitely so here in Manhattan or in New York City.
As we've been talking, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani tweeting simply, "History" in all caps and then saying that the parade will be Thursday in Manhattan, the championship parade. So if you think this is celebrating, just wait until there's actual time set aside for celebrating in the city of New York.
I want to go back to Shimon Prokupecz, who's been out in these watch parties, out in the celebrations.
Shimon, if you can hear me, we can see your shot. What are you seeing?
PROKUPECZ: I can hear you.
So this is a, you know, very large crowd here that has gathered, in the middle of Eighth Avenue and 35th street. So were about three to four blocks north of Madison Square Garden. And right now, this is the closest, that they're allowing this group to come. And their NYPD is trying to clear them up. NYPD is being very patient with them, allowing them to celebrate in the street. You could see people over here, someone being carried and someone on someone's shoulders.
And if you -- I just wanted you to take a look at this, Omar, if you let's turn this way. Just look at all the traffic here. People are now outside their cars on the roof. People are dancing and, you know, with honking their horns. Everyone's being patient, understanding. We're seeing actually some more police officers now move in, Omar.
So let me keep an eye on this, because they could be moving in to try to clear this crowd. The NYPD, no doubt, is going to want to move traffic. They're going to want to clear these people out. And I could see, here we could see several if you show, stay up there and let's show here. You see, the -- you could see, I hope Omar in the -- on your screen here, there are more NYPD officers.
Let's move back and lets see where they're going. We're going to see if they're going to try to move this crowd back because they need to reopen the street. They've been allowing them to celebrate and it looks like now, they're heading towards this crowd. So let's see if they start to push them back. And I think that's what's happening now.
They're going to start to push this crowd back because they got to get, this traffic moving. But I mean, the people here in the cars are in no rush. No one's honking, no one's asking to leave. They're allowing the people here to celebrate. There is certainly a lot of joy. Most of the people here have been out all night watching this game, and they've now come to this area.
And you could see here the NYPD officers are trying to get them up on the sidewalk so they could reopen the street. And so far, that's working. People are cooperating.
But there are hundreds, if not thousands of officers out here tonight for these kinds of situation.
[00:10:02]
And we've not seen any kind of escalation from the officers or from the -- from the fans out here. We've been watching officers celebrate also, high-fiving many of the people. And now peacefully, you can see they're just moving them up onto the sidewalk and moving them into a different area.
But pockets of celebration like this are happening all across the five boroughs of New York City. You were showing pictures earlier of people in the street. There's huge parties in Brooklyn, in the West Village and all areas of Manhattan. Everyone, everyone wants to be part of this celebration. And certainly everyone wants to get as close as they can to Madison Square Garden.
And that's why were seeing all these barricades. And that's why were seeing so many of the officers here in this area. But I am struck by just how traffic is at a complete standstill. What -- we're here, it's after midnight and everyone's just hanging out. You could see that, I think everyone just wants to be part of this joy.
Let's turn back over here. Someone's spraying some blue smoke or some kind -- some kind of something kind of liquid in the air. And so far, uh, everyone here has moved back, and they've been able to clear the street here. So we'll see where they go next.
But there isn't a lot of places for them to go right now, Omar, because so many of the streets are blocked off by these barriers and the NYPD, which is just trying to keep people on the sidewalk, is allowing them to party as long as they're doing it peacefully. And so far, we've been seeing that. But the number of officers, certainly it's an intense amount, and they're just trying to move the crowd along. So they've been able to move much of the crowd out of the street and onto the sidewalk, and hopefully these cars will get moving here.
But, yeah, most of the people just, hey, what's up? Most of these people, let me see if this guy will talk to me.
Hey, hey, can we talk to you? We're just live on CNN. Is this your car? How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm doing good.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, you're just celebrating. What do you think of everything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. You know, it's been 53 years. The Knicks finally got a championship. I was just with my brother. We just got stuck in traffic. I told him it was not worth coming right here. And now were stuck, and we can't even go nowhere. Like this is crazy.
PROKUPECZ: Are you annoyed by it, or are you just taking it all in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I'm not a Knicks fan, but I know a lot of Knicks fans. And my girl is Knicks fan, my homies are Knicks fan. So, yeah. It's crazy though. It's real crazy.
PROKUPECZ: What's it like seeing so many people out in the streets?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least it's like, you know, it's a good thing. Like the city is like it's making the city come together. It's all peaceful, it's all good vibes. Ain't really no violence going. it's just a lot of chaotic. But other than that, everything.
PROKUPECZ: Where are you going? Trying to get home? You're trying to -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been wanting to go home. I ain't even want to
come to this to this tunnel in the first place but --
PROKUPECZ: Here you are, stuck in traffic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
PROKUPECZ: All right, man. What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mark.
PROKUPECZ: Mark? Thank you for talking to me. Get home safe. Okay. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah. So everyone's just taking it in stride here, being stuck in traffic. They get it. They understand.
There's also a lot of tourists in town because of the World Cup, who are watching this and I'm sure like, oh my God, you know, Brazil played today, Omar. So there's a lot of excitement over that. And we're actually outside a hotel here. We're seeing a lot of tourists out here.
And, let's see -- are you -- where are you guys from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada. Montreal.
PROKUPECZ: Montreal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: What do you think of all this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing. It's -- it's crazy. And people are so happy today, and we're happy to be here.
PROKUPECZ: Are you here for the World Cup or?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Did you know? Were you like -- were you expecting all this tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really. But it's -- it's very good.
PROKUPECZ: It's good for New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good for New York.
PROKUPECZ: Are you a big sports fan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but, especially soccer.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, yeah. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, but I'm happy for basketball fan.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you.
So there you go. A tourist here who's just taking it all in.
JIMENEZ: Folks here from all over --
(CROSSTALK)
PROKUPECZ: -- right now.
JIMENEZ: I was just going to say, yeah, the World Cup fans, they're here. What's more American than seeing the New York Knicks win a championship? Outside Madison Square Garden, you see the celebrations.
Shimon, I'm going to get back to you, but I want to bring in Mark Morales, who is live for us, I believe in Times Square. And he's putting on -- he's putting on a Knicks jersey.
I don't even know if this was voluntary, that he had a Knicks jersey put on him.
[00:15:03]
But you know what? If you're walking through the streets of New York, you're going to be wearing it.
MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, they just came upon me. They're like, you have to wear this now. And after a night like tonight, I'm not going to argue.
Omar, welcome to Times Square. If you could look all the way deep, you'll see how many people are here. And this is all because the Knicks won.
I used to tell people all the time, if you think it's a big deal when the Yankees win, if you think it's a big deal with the giants win, I tell people, wait until you see what it looks like when the Knicks win, because this city will stop. And this is what you get if you get. It's just -- it's a celebration here.
Everyone's really excited. Like, and it's not just here, Omar. It's all the way down. I can't even get a count for how many people are here. There are thousands here in the street and that's just here. And that's the other thing. As you walk down, you start hearing the anthems of New York -- "New York, New York," Frank Sinatra, "Empire State of Mind" and the mantra over the last few days.
Let's go Knicks. Like this -- this is that party vibe.
(CHANTING)
MORALES: Yeah. This is -- yeah, it's -- it is a -- Omar, Omar, it's a party out there.
JIMENEZ: I was going to say, Mark, you are in the middle of the party.
MORALES: Yeah.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. You are in the middle of the party. What -- what are they yelling right now? What are you -- what are you hearing right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knicks, NBA champion!
(CHEERING)
MORALES: I think they're yelling. A police officer is asking us to move. We'll be out of here in a second, sir, as soon as we could. Yeah, we're going to -- we're going to -- we're going to keep it walking but yeah. Let's go.
(CHANTING)
MORALES: Omar, I think they're saying let's go Knicks.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. I think that's pretty clear.
We might be losing Mark in the crowd here in a second, but that is the celebration that is happening here in New York City, as the officers -- the police officer is trying to tell them to move along. Mark, go, go get yourself somewhere where you can breathe for a second.
But to everyone watching, that is what New York City looks like. We've been showing you images from the air. That's what it looks like from the ground in Times Square. The center really, of New York City.
And then we had Shimon Prokupecz outside Madison Square Garden, the basketball Mecca, some say, of the world.
And so, we've been talking to a lot of people over the course of the night. And I believe we have -- I believe we have, Joe Arbitello and, you know, we're going to come back to him. He was a principal and men's basketball coach, so were going to come back to him in a moment here.
But as I mentioned, you saw some of what Mark Morales was doing -- doing. He was in the middle of the crowd and people were surrounding him chanting, "Let's go, Knicks". But I want to go back to Shimon Prokupecz because, look, if you're just tuning in, you know, the Knicks have won the championship for the first time in five decades. They did it. They were trailing by double digits every single game this finals series.
They came into the finals. Largest point differential in wins than any other team in NBA finals history. So we are talking about one of the most dominant finals runs of any team ever.
And Shimon is with the fans who are celebrating that accomplishment.
Shimon, what are you hearing from people?
PROKUPECZ: So, Guy, right? That's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Where did you watch the game?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We watched it on a bar just down the street.
PROKUPECZ: And so -- and then you left and you wanted to come here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Kind of see what was happening and then go home. But it seems like we can't move anywhere.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah. Tell me what this night. What -- what it's been like for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was a very fun, like, last three or four days. This is my bandwagon t-shirt out of that target yesterday. So we're vibing. It's a lot of fun.
PROKUPECZ: What did what do you feel about this win? What -- what would you -- how would you describe it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it means a lot. I've been hearing people talk about the Knicks for like the last 23 years of my life. So it's definitely like, wow, everybody kind of knows what they're talking about now because there's finally positivity, which is nice.
PROKUPECZ: What -- what's your -- where -- where are you going now? Like, what are you guys going to do? Because everything's locked down?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, we were trying to hit up, just a bodega and get some dinner, but I don't know if that's happening now.
PROKUPECZ: That's such a New York thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you got to do it. Yeah. it's necessary. Open 24/7. Get anything you want.
PROKUPECZ: All right. Thank you, thank you.
I want to kind of go -- I mean, I don't know, Omar, what's going to happen here because a lot of these people at this point are blocked in by the barriers here.
[00:20:07]
And -- but they don't -- doesn't look like they're going to be able to go anywhere. And a lot of the crowds are still forming here on Eighth Avenue. The traffic, the NYPD was trying to get it moving. It seems like they're about to -- people are just --
JIMENEZ: Hey, Shimon, we're going to -- we're going to come right back to you. Victor Wembanyama speaking now at the podium. I believe we have that signal now. Let's listen in to what he's saying.
REPORTER: You know, you went from the lean times to this stage and experiencing this. How do you think all of this is going to sort of shape your mentality moving forward?
VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, SAN ANTONIO SPURS PLAYER: It's going to be all of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Second row, right side.
WEMBANYAMA: Who we are, it's what were made of. Plus our experience and this has been a hell of a year in terms of experience. I don't think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run and in one season, and personally in 18 months. It's been -- it's been hard and full of lessons.
REPORTER: Victor, I know, again, it's too early to process maybe, but when you are going through this summer, do you think there's anything from these last few games, few months, the whole season that's going to stick with you, that you're going to think about the most as you prepare for next year?
WEMBANYAMA: Absolutely. When I'm pissed about is that there's probably a hundred games before we can be back in finals. So I don't know how to say it in English, but I'm going to have to -- you know, hold that inside of me and slow down and wait and execute for 100 games
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
JIMENEZ: And this question in French, obviously, Victor Wembanyama, French player, the 22 year old phenom drafted number one to the NBA a few years ago and led his San Antonio team valiantly to the finals, played very well, double-double in this particular game.
And look, he's leading a very young team. And you contrast the tough reality of sports someone has to lose when someone wins. And this young phenom has to explain what happened and how he's going to process moving forward. And you can even see the emotion in his face there while on the other side you have the celebration in New York.
Let's listen back in to what he's being asked here.
REPORTER: What -- what did you learn about how hard it is to win the finals against this Knicks team, where they kept coming up with answers? Brunson just could always score no matter what in the end.
WEMBANYAMA: I learned that -- one of many things I learned is the margin of error is very, very thin. Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely, absolutely dominated for most of the series, but our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard that we can't have ups and downs like this. So, so much. You know the ups, okay, the downs, it's -- it's the reason we lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left side, Tim.
REPORTER: Tim Reynolds with the "A.P."
Victor, you studied the game. You're -- you understand the history of it. It took Michael seven years. It took LeBron nine. It took Jerry West 12 years to be a champion. Not even the even the greatest ever, it's not immediate.
How difficult is that to accept when you pour so much of yourself into this, that there is a process to get to where you want to go?
WEMBANYAMA: Its extremely -- it's painful. You know, it's painful. But I'm -- I'm not running away from that. I'm using that to fuel me. I'm sure all these guys, you know, they're not satisfied with being eliminated -- eliminated in earlier rounds or not making the playoffs. And I'm not satisfied with not winning.
[00:25:06]
But as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. And as a team, there's no better experience than what we just live.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
JIMENEZ: In French -- and the French phenom being asked a question in French.
I want to bring in quickly Joe Arbitello, who's a principal in men's basketball coach at Christ the King Regional High School, as Wemby continues to answer there.
Joe, what did you see out there in the game and across this series that you think helped the Knicks get it done here?
JOSEPH ARBITELLO, CHRIST THE KING REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL: I'd just, like Wemby said, right, margin of error. The Knicks, they just capitalized on every error the Spurs made. And you know, those guys came off the bench to help them. You know last game it was Jose which made it so proud this game was made some shots. It -- Knicks was a complete team man. They are so tough.
JIMENEZ: You know, I just -- I see you wearing your Knicks jersey. What does this mean for just basketball culture in New York City, in the area? I mean, it's really the Mecca of the basketball world. How does this Knicks win do you think permeate youth sports and youth basketball, trying to get to the next level?
ARBITELLO: I mean, honestly, I was born in 1977. So this is the first one that I saw. And even -- I've watched the Yankees win. I watched the Mets win. I've never seen anything like this. I mean, I live in a little town called Howard Beach in Queens. That's fireworks going off. It is mayhem.
I think it is -- it has united the entire city. And I think basketball, gyms, camps will be packed. My own camp, I think I got 20 registrations just in the last four or five hours. So I really think it's a call to people to really, really take up this sport again and, and get real involved.
JIMENEZ: You know, um, I grew up playing basketball and I feel like seeing the, the basketball idols that, that I idolized at the time. You know, for me growing up, Dwyane Wade, I remember when he won his championship for the heat there, his first one, and it inspired me a lot as a -- as a basketball player.
And you know what, coach, before we go back to you, the Knicks are now speaking, post game, post championship. And let's listen to Josh Hart, all smiles.
REPORTER: When is the championship talk episode dropping? When time for OG to be the guest?
JOSH HART, KNICKS PLAYER: Okay. Hold on. You're going to have to tell OG he has to do that. But when is that going to come? Probably soon. We're going to celebrate this one a little bit. I'm going to celebrate with some patron. I feel a little good, and then we'll get back to that. So, soon. But right now, you know, time to celebrate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way in the back, right.
REPORTER: Howard Husock, "New York Post".
Josh. I mean, this would be special under any circumstances, but to also be able to do this with Jalen and Mikal, 10 years after you guys won the championship, just what is it like to be able to do it with guys, you've been friends with forever?
HART: Yeah, man, those are my brothers.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: My daddy.
JAMES DOLAN, KNICKS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN & CEO: We need to tell everybody in New York that we know that they're celebrating. We want them to have a great time. Please be safe, right? Don't -- don't get hurt, don't hurt anybody.
JIMENEZ: Right now. This is Knicks president James Dolan, who's speaking right now. Let's continue to listen in.
DOLAN: Right in New York, be safe. Okay? Celebrate, but be safe. Thank you for your time.
HART: Appreciate it, but, yeah, to answer that question, like I said, those are my brothers for life. We have a bond that will never be broken. Obviously, we, you know, won a championship together. This one obviously takes the cake.
But those are my brothers, man. I wouldn't want to go into a game with anybody else, but, you know, besides them about my back. So, I love those guys. And we're going to be friends and brothers for a lifetime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marcus here at second row on your left.
REPORTER: Marcus Thompson, "The Athletic".
Jalen is very close to the vest, but you're a father. You know what it means for him to do this with his dad? What is it like to see that play out?
HART: Oh, man, it's so cool. So cool to see that because, you know, I've seen the hard work. I've seen their relationship. I've seen the work that they both put in to get to this point.
[00:30:00]
I hope you have that mic off, but, yeah, go Knicks, go Knicks.,
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Go Knicks.
HART: But, man, it's -- it's so cool to see that they've worked so hard to get to this point, both of them, respectively. And man, when you're able to do that, you know, with your, with your dad, you got both played on the same team. Man, it's, you know, that's something they're going to remember for the rest of their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sam, third row in the left.
REPORTER: Josh, Sam Amick, "The Athletic". Congrats, brother.
You talk about the weight of the jersey, the weight of the history. Coach Brown was the newest addition to this whole group. And I just kind of wonder, how did you all go from the beginning of that relationship with coach to where you are today, and how did you see him move through that pressure? And what kind of part did he play?
HART: I did not do that. Before y'all sit there and say, Jayhart did it. No, I didn't do it. Okay, go see mommy. Go see mommy. Yes, please. Okay. Just stay. Stay still. You can sit here and stay still. Okay. Thank you.
Man, Mike was invaluable to this run. He understands what it is to be a champion. He understands, you know, how to build a team, how to build habits that that will put you in this position and, we're so grateful.
JIMENEZ: Post-game press conference where Josh Hart has been speaking will periodically come back into this as more players come up and really try to process doing something that the Knicks team has not done in more than 50 years, since the 1970s. As I mentioned, we've had reporters throughout the city who have been tracking the celebrations from people by the thousands who are out on New York City streets.
Mark Morales has been right in the middle of it, this time from Times Square.
And, Mark, I can see the parties going on behind you. What have you seen tonight?
MORALES: Well, Omar, you're right. This party is going on and we're just going to show you what were seeing here. If you look off in the distance or these are two city buses. You've got people perched on city buses right on 42nd street, one on either side of the block. There's a group right here. You see them still climbing on? They're just reaching up. And there are other people that are pulling them onto the bus.
And then you turn a little bit onto this side. You'll see the same thing is happening here. there's people there, there's packed. It looks like a bus at rush hour, but on top instead of inside, it's there's not even standing room, only.
And then right behind us, there's fireworks. Somebody is letting off fireworks. I don't have to tell you, Omar, that fireworks being set off in Times Square is very illegal. But here we are.
We have this. We have people climbing on these busses. We have everybody here packed in at the corners. They've got their phones out. They're recording everything. Like this is the party atmosphere that has happened because the Knicks won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knicks in five.
MORALES: It is Knicks in five. And if it's not "Knicks in five", it's "Let's go Knicks". Like it is -- it is a party here in the middle of Times Square.
Now, one thing we should note is that there's extra police on hand here in the city. They canceled days off, so they made everybody come in for just the crowd control potential for just this kind of a thing because to be honest, you can't really predict something like this. Like, this is not something that you can actually plan for, but you have the extra manpower because you know that not only is anything possible, but because there's so many people, because it's so joyous, because people get caught up in the emotion, you're going to be setting off fireworks in Times Square. You're going to be climbing on buses.
And this is only what we see. There's -- we've got the whole rest of the night to go online. But as of right now, here in Times Square, this is what we're seeing, Mark.
JIMENEZ: Mark, I mean, look, you've followed New York sports all your life. Is this what you imagined a New York Knicks championship would look like on the streets of New York City?
MORALES: Yes, in a way. I tell people all the time, like when the Knicks win, it's like nothing else. Because New York, at it's essence, is a basketball town. I remember as a kid, when I'd walk down the street, if you saw one Knicks jersey, you also saw a Jordan jersey. You saw that jumpman.
What I've noticed the last couple of weeks is it's been only Knicks gear. It's been only orange and blue and you asked me if I ever pictured this. I could never picture this because this seems so far away from reality that I would be here with strangers coming up to me saying "Knicks in five".
[00:35:01]
Never in my wildest dreams would I've allowed myself to actually believe that such a thing was possible, let alone actually picture what this is.
But if I had to actually picture it, this is somewhat of what I would imagine it looks like. Like this -- this is hitting pretty close to what I always figured would happen if the New York Knicks won the world championship. Like we're just going to keep walking through and just kind of keep throwing. Like the closer we get to the corner, the more you see that there are throngs of people. And they finally got everybody off the city buses.
So -- but you still have people climbing on light poles. You saw people off in the distance. You still have people just, you know, there's people climbing on cars. If you look off in the distance, too, it's a tough watch, but you'll see those helmets that police are wearing. You'll see that as we walk through, you'll see police wearing those like riot helmets.
They're all wearing them. We saw them all the way from midtown, all the way coming through. So, so the city is ready for this kind of a celebration. But at the same time, this is like something we've never -- forget about not seeing in 53 years, we have not seen a celebration like this for a sports team ever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I talk? I'm not going to say nothing bad.
JIMENEZ: This team has woken something up in this city. Mark, we're going to get back to you in just a little bit. You can assess how that guy is and maybe we can hear from him in a second.
Shimon, I want to get to you because you've been outside Madison Square Garden with the crowds out there, as people have been mobbing Mark in Times Square.
Shimon, what have you been seeing out there? Obviously huge crowds outside MSG.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah. There are massive crowds. We're trying to take a walk over to Seventh Avenue now, Omar, because we were trying to get a sense of how things are going over there. But, you know, I think Mark was just talking about this, the city is very prepared. They're prepared for the worst.
And so far, from everything we can see, at least in this area, things have been very peaceful. People have been partying. The NYPD has been allowing them to remain, you know, as they are in the street, clearing them when they have to. We did see on our way over here three or four arrests. Those people were handcuffed and taken away. But right now, the
immediate area around Madison Square Garden, there's not a lot of activity. We're trying to come over on Seventh Avenue because that's been a big area where many of the fans were gathering after -- after the game.
And so, the NYPD set up this whole security perimeter to keep fans away. And so what, what they've been doing is they've been gathering in places like Times Square or coming as close as they could to Madison Square Garden. And so far, from everything we can see, the NYPD, which was very concerned about this area, has been successful in keeping most of the fans out
(AUDIO GAP) JIMENEZ: And, Shimon, I think we lost your audio again as you've been walking. But let us know when you get to Seventh Avenue there and we'll get right back to you.
Some of what Shimon was mentioning is that police are monitoring what's been going on and trying to, to keep their distance, to let New Yorkers celebrate. But obviously, there's a fine line between celebration and things getting out of hand. So there's a major security operation underway in New York as thousands of Knicks fans celebrate this championship.
To talk about that, I want to bring in Richard Kolko. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent.
Thank you for sticking around, as we've been following some of these celebrations.
What is the security presence and balance in a situation like this when you know people are going to be on the streets celebrating and you don't want to get in the way of that, but you also don't want things to get out of hand?
RICHARD KOLKO, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): And you hit the hammer -- nail on the head right there. NYPD wants to let the people enjoy themselves this evening. They've earned the right to, to cheer on their team. They're doing exactly that.
I'm a little worried that as the hours go by, a different things may happen. And that will probably keep NYPD a little busier when people start to get a little out of control. But right now, it's the true fans that are out there cheering on their team. I'm actually a fan myself. So this is great news for New York.
But NYPD has got all the people out that they need to have out. Don't forget they're geared up for the world cup, a lot of special events going on. The USA 250 very, very busy summer. So, NYPD and the multiple other law enforcement agencies around there have prepared, practiced and trained for all their crisis response plans and crowd control plans.
[00:40:06]
They've got the people, the equipment, the technology in place and ready to go as needed. But, it's going to be a long night. But I think the beginning of the night will go well, and we'll see what happens in a couple of hours.
JIMENEZ: You know, you mentioned the intersection of a lot of the events here, obviously, the World Cup going on. You got a lot of people in town from other countries, from other cities here to support their countries. And you have this. And then you just have the every day New York City Saturday night.
How does that change the security, either assessment or operations, knowing that you have an intersection of that many types of events in a city as populated as New York City is? KOLKO: Well, the only thing that New York City didn't plan on was, you
know, the Knicks going all the way this year. They knew that the 250th anniversary of the U.S. was coming up. They knew tall ships was coming up.
They knew World Cup was coming up. They've been working planning on that for years. Then you just throw in the Knicks as well, keeping them busy.
So they've got the people place and equipment -- and equipment ready to go. And this is just one more element that they need to have ready. And it's not a -- it's not a big deal for them. They're -- they're -- they're expert at this. They're the 800-pound gorilla in the room. They've got everything they need to control this.
What's going to happen is, you know, the cameras are focused right now on Times Square and around Madison Square Garden, you know, where the parties are. But as the evening goes on, I think there'll be other activity in other boroughs throughout the city, and that will keep police busy for sure.
JIMENEZ: All right. Richard Kolko, really appreciate the assessment as we've been following these celebrations out on the streets and New York City by the thousands.
We're waiting to listen in for -- there you go. You got the Knicks hat. Should have known you had it close by when you said you were a fan. Like many people out on the streets right now celebrating what has not been done in so long. we've been standing by, were expecting head coach of the Knicks, Mike Brown, to speak at any minute. As we've been seeing players cycle in.
And there is Coach Mike Brown as he's taking his seat there.
I want to bring in very quickly Joe Vardon, senior NBA writer for "The Athletic", who you might want to be listening in to this to, just -- you know what, Joe? Actually, let's hold on. Mike Brown looks like he's about to start talking. Let's listen in to hear what he has to say after the Knicks complete this historic.
(CROSSTALK)
MIKE BROWN, KNICKS HEAD COACH: I'm going to answer some questions. Is that okay? That's okay. Okay.
All right. First of all, it's just a heck of a win. You know, to have the fans that we have in New York City and be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing. It's a surreal feeling. I still, I mean, I don't know how long it's been since that final buzzer went off, but I still don't believe it.
I'm pinching myself. I'm telling myself to try to be present. All the stuff that I tell these guys every single day I'm trying to do because I can't believe it. I'm happy for Mr. Dolan, happy for Leon Rose. Chris Jent, by the way, there are a lot of jobs open out there. Chris gent, my associate head coach. I am surprised he has not gotten an interview.
He won the summer league championship this past summer. He's our offensive coordinator. He's an associate head coach. He's been around for a long time.
You guys, somebody needs to give him an interview because he will help your team win at the highest level. But Chris Jent, Rick Brunson, Brendan O'Connor, Darren Erman, TJ Saint, Ricky Foy, I could go on and on with my staff. They carried me all year.
And then our players, our players are great. I mean, you can see it now. These guys are fantastic. I love them all. They had been ready from day one and not just our top five, but one through 18 have been ready for day one.
You guys saw it. We called on different guys at different times and every time we called on somebody, they stepped up.
So I love my players. I love the organization. But more importantly, let's go New York. Let's go New York. We can't wait to get back home to celebrate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve on the front on your right.
REPORTER: Steve Popper from Newsday.
You've seen it all year. But, Jalen, when you guys were struggling offensively early just looked like he decided he was going to take you on the shoulders, and a performance like that under this spotlight and coming from behind again.
BROWN: You know, I've said it. I hope I hope you guys will listen to me. But he's a top three MVP candidate. You know everybody kind of mentions his name in passing.
[00:45:03]
If -- they don't do it seriously enough. You know, people say he's too small. People say he's a 1B or a 2B or whatever. He is a freaking 1A. He is an MVP candidate.
And I hope tonight, you guys, I'm talking to media more than the fans, but I hope you guys recognize what this man is about because he is A1 MVP.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Facts.
BROWN: He is him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's him.
BROWN: He is him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is him.
BROWN: He is him. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is. He is.
BROWN: Can you say he is? Say he is him. No?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.
BROWN: Okay. This is my grandson, Iverson
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James left row on the side.
REPORTER: Mike over the left. James Edwards, "The Athletic".
Another thing with Jalen. You've been around some players who have transformed franchises and ever since he's gone to New York, it's only been an upward trajectory. What is it about those type of players that can help change a culture, within an organization?
BROWN: Well, you know, I got to give his mom credit. And I hate to say this, but I'm going to give his dad credit too. His entire family, you know, he understands what winning is about, you know, he -- he comes and he probably takes a pay cut that I wouldn't have taken.
Every time they would have thrown that number in front of me, I would have said no. And I feel like I'm a good guy. So he set the bar before he even stepped on the floor. Every time it came to renegotiate a deal with him, so that -- that set the standard. Now, when you take into his play into account, it's off the charts, man.
He's -- he's -- I love Pat. Pat's up there. I hope Pat doesn't kill me. Pat's bigger than me. We're both old and slow, but because he's got a longer reach, he might be able to get me.
But Jalen Brunson is him when it comes to New York basketball. He is freaking him, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrew standing on the right. Mike over here.
REPORTER: Andrew Greif with NBC News.
Right as the buzzer goes off, everyone's jumping around. But you look like you were just sort of wandering around almost emotionless. I was just sort of wondering, what were you can you walk us through what you were processing in that moment, what you were feeling?
BROWN: Yeah. I couldn't believe it. That's the first thing. It was surreal. I couldn't believe that it was happening. And I -- I am so tired.
I mean, I'm gassed and, you know, this stuff is harder than what you think. And, you know, you have to have great assistants. You have to have great players, but I was gassed.
And I'll never forget, in 2003, as an assistant here, and we won the championship. I'll never forget, I was on the other bench when the buzzer went off. I was sitting in my chair. All I did was lean back in my chair, and I -- and I sat there. I felt like for ten minutes it was probably 30 seconds, but I just wanted to breathe. I want to breathe.
And that's what I wanted to do today. It was surreal. I was tired and then I wanted to find my family. I wanted to find Roe, my grandson, my son Elijah, my step kids, my mom, my sisters. I wanted to find my family and enjoy it with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kristian, last question here on the left.
REPORTER: Mike, Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News.
Congratulations on NBA championship. You know, with three chances to win one game, you know, some teams might have said, hey, you know, we're down 16.
BROWN: That's -- there we go. There you go.
REPORTER: Yes, sir.
Like I said, just with three shots to win one game, some teams might have been down 16 and said, hey, you know we have two more shots to do this. Let's just maybe pack it up and try to win it back at the crib. You know, you guys have come back from down. I don't know how many times so far this season.
Was there any, any shot, any doubt in your mind that you guys would be able to do it again under these circumstances? And at what point did you know that, you know this, your guys going to do it today?
BROWN: You know, you never know. But again, like I said, I'm human. And sometimes you get carried away with the outcome. I just kept telling myself, be present, be present, stay present, stay present, try to help these guys. The next play, try to help these guys. The next play.
That's all I kept doing. And you know when you do that, when you can stay in the moment, you're going to give yourself a chance, especially with this group. This group is really, really resilient and they've shown it time after time after time. So it doesn't matter what we're down. You got guys like these around me. We're going to give ourselves a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mike. Well take questions for Mitch.
BROWN: You say thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Mitch, you got any questions, bro?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't got no questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got you got a statement to make, though?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope. Not at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can name me self champion, my brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.
BROWN: NBA champion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.
BROWN: Both of you guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on now.
BROWN: NBA champion man.
[00:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can call yourself champion.
BROWN: I'm going to call myself champion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, bro show
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me. Don't let me speak out, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't let me speak out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead, Steve.
JIMENEZ: We're listening to Knicks head coach Mike Brown, who was just talking a few moments ago. I want to bring in Joe Vardon, senior NBA writer for "The Athletic".
Let's talk a little bit about Mike Brown, actually, because, you know, he has an interesting journey. He led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the finals back in 2007 when LeBron was there, gets fired a few years later. They don't win in 2007, wins three rings as an assistant with the Warriors. And then now here he is finally at that pinnacle of his NBA career, to this point.
I wonder how you assess his journey and how he fit into this Knicks team and organization.
JOE VARDON, SENIOR NBA WRITER, THE ATHLETIC: Well, I'm glad that we start there. I live in Cleveland and Mike used to live the neighborhood over from me and he's just -- he's such a nice guy. He's the kind of guy that really embraces the community and kind of lives in the community, if the -- if that makes sense, where he's coaching at the time.
And he had had kind of a tough journey, you know, he wasn't fired by Cleveland just once, but twice. And in fact, you brought up that, the three rings that he won as an assistant with the Warriors, one of those he had to take over for Steve Kerr. Steve was ill and missed 11 games as a coach during the 2017 playoff run, including game one of the finals that year against Cleveland. He was still on the Cavs payroll. The Cavs were still paying his contract from the second time he was let go to coach against them in the finals, so he's had a remarkable journey.
You know, he had just been let go by the Kings I think a year before whatever it was, before getting the opportunity to coach the Knicks. And he was under pressure immediately. It was -- throughout the league people talked about if they don't get to the finals, let alone win, but if they don't get to the finals, they thought that he might be a one and done kind of coach in New York. And instead they just run through the east and obviously run through the finals here and win it in five games. And now he's on top of the world.
JIMENEZ: And, Joe, well -- and just for peoples perspective who are watching, I think if I'm seeing your backdrop correctly, seeing the black curtain and stuff, I think you're in San Antonio at Frost Bank right now at the arena, working in the in the press area. Is that what I'm seeing right now?
VARDON: That's exactly -- yeah, that's exactly right. It is still absolute chaos on the court.
JIMENEZ: I was just going to say --
VARDON: -- able to hear me.
JIMENEZ: I was just saying, just for our audience to let you know that Joe is in the middle of everything right now, and he's taking time out to give us some analysis. So I really appreciate it.
All right. One more question for you. Just about you alluded to it, just the dominance of this Knicks run. I think coming into the playoffs, a lot of people were looking at OKC, San Antonio, as well as kind of being the top two teams in the league and the east maybe was going to sort itself out. And yet the Knicks outside of -- I mean, I guess the Hawks put up the biggest fight against them in the first round, taking two of those games.
But they flew through the playoffs sweeping two series in a row, coming in with the largest difference in point differential coming into the finals. You just as a reporter, were you surprised to see how much the Knicks dominated? How did you assess kind of what they were doing out there?
VARDON: Well, I think if we go back to the regular season, I've been saying that I never really I never gave the Knicks a chance to win the title this year. Not because I thought somebody in the east was markedly better, but I just thought that the Oklahoma City Thunder were clearly the best team in the NBA. And of course, like, that's not how it turned out. They didn't even make it.
From a Knicks' perspective, you're right. They were down two to one against the Hawks in the first round, and they looked like they were in trouble. And they made a key move. They changed the way they use Karl-Anthony Towns. They had the offense run through him more, which gave Jalen Brunson their best scorer and best player more room to operate. And they erupted from there.
You know, they won 13 games in a row, which is the second longest playoff winning streak in NBA history, 11 of those 13 wins were by double digits. They absolutely destroyed the Hawks after that change. They went right through the 76ers. No problem.
And then they get to the Cavs. And I think they won that series by a combined 77 points. But in game one in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks were down by 22 with eight minutes left. And they come back and win that game.
So you know, you think about what's happened in these finals where they trail by double digits in every game. They trail by 29 in the second half of game four.
[00:55:01]
And then tonight they are down 16 in the first half. They're down 10 in the fourth quarter.
So yes, it was dominant. Yes, it was. And a gentleman's sweep in the finals is nothing to shake a stick at. But they were challenged in all five games by the Spurs. And just sort of the collective mettle and experience and just knowing each other as well as this Knicks group does.
Yes, they had a new coach, but everybody else had played together for a while, and I think that showed through as much as anything in this finals run
JIMENEZ: Joe Vardon, really appreciate you taking the time, especially again for the folks watching. He's in the arena right now in the press area, sheltering from the celebration, actually get some work done.
Joe --
VARDON: That's right.
JIMENEZ: -- I appreciate you taking the time. I want to get you all back out to the streets of New York City right now.
Obviously, the celebration continues. Mark Morales has been in the middle of Times Square, where they've set off fireworks at points, people were climbing busses. They were crowding you in your shot.
You have a little bit more shoulder room now, which I think is a little bit of an improvement. What have you been seeing out there?
MORALES: Well, I want to show you and really take a look because there's a lot to take in on this image. This is all a 42nd Street, right? And if you just pan from the left all the way to the right, you see groups of people that have climbed onto police barricades, into cars all the way to in the middle of the shot, you'll see a bus that's got people that are still climbing onto it.
And if you look here on the right, there's, this theater, the new victory theater, and you have people just who have taken over and are climbing on and are watching everything like, like this is -- this is a -- this is the atmosphere here right now.
Now what you can't see, it's going to be a little tough to see it because behind us, there is a group of police officers that were getting together with riot helmets. And it's off in the distance. So the police have a very difficult task here, which is let everybody celebrate, keep the vibes good, but keep everybody safe.
And you have to sort of walk that very thin line of when do you when do you start coming in, breaking things up, pulling people down? And how does that happen? Right? So right now, it just seems like it's something where -- you have everybody that's coming out and you have crowds in the streets, they're really preventing everybody from -- from getting these cars moving.
But this is 42nd Street. Like it's usually busy on, on a night like this, but night, like today, it's even, it's even different. It's -- it's loaded up right now -- Omar.
JIMENEZ: And, Mark, look, I mean, for people who are watching this, who, who don't live in New York City, I mean, there are thousands of people out on the streets of this country's biggest city celebrating something their signature team has not done since the 1970s.
And, Mark, you were out on the streets after some of the previous Knicks games and Knicks wins. Game two, I think, was the one in particular that comes to mind. How has the mood, the optimism, the spirit of fans on the street maybe evolved or changed over the course of this series?
MORALES: You know, the first couple of games, it was optimism and it was this push to say, this is our time. And now you have this explosion of joy saying, we have arrived. And it's just that difference in we can do it versus we have arrived. That is multiplied by thousands of people in the street.
And this is really what you're seeing because for all those other games, we didn't quite see this, but we did see as the playoffs went, an escalation, there was more people coming out. There were more -- there was more of a fan reaction after the games, and it just kept increasing with every single win. And we culminate here where we are today. They win the NBA championship first time in 53 years.
And this crowd -- it's -- I can't even give you an estimate. There are like you said, there are thousands. And it's not just thousands here, it's thousands in every direction, all the way to the back, all the way to this side, all the way around. And if we were to go back down here, we would probably hit that frozen zone around Madison Square Garden. So if anybody was out, if anybody was at a watch party, if anybody was at a bar watching a Knicks game, it feels like they all came out right now and came out right in the 42nd Street.
And it's not just here. There are pockets just like this happening everywhere, all over the city.
JIMENEZ: And, Mark, you know, as we watch everybody celebrating behind you, I've been out in those crowds before. Sometimes they just see the camera and the lights. They don't even know what you're saying. They're just trying to cheer Knicks in four. They got Knicks in five, which I feel like is a nice second place for the fans.
