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New York Knicks Win First Championship Since 1973: New Yorkers Throng Streets, Celebrating Knicks' Victory. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 14, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And, Mark, you know, as we watch everybody celebrating behind you.
[01:00:02]
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.
Just over the course over the course of the night, you've covered some ground. You were in Central Park earlier, as I understand. Take me into what fans were feeling during the game because it wasn't an easy win. The Knicks were familiarly down double digits in the first half and just like they had in the previous wins, they found a way to get over that hump and in this case cement their championship.
What were fans feeling during the game?
MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you felt that tension in the air as the game and you heard all the hardbacks of every single game this series where you'd questionable foul calls and you'd hear groans from the crowd any image of Wemby that could see on the screen, people were booing. They were upset to see him on their screens let alone he'd make a basket or make a block shot which happened a lot at the beginning of the game.
But as the game started to go through you, you saw that they started bridging, they started bridging the gap. They started closing in and they and eventually when they took that lead for the first time, the whole place exploded. All of them and rank just let out this guttural scream and appreciation for what just happened. And then you get to the end of the game and it was very interesting because the end of the game turned into, as you saw, this free throw battle and the free throw battle was so tough.
Once you saw Wemby miss those two free throws, the place erupted again, not only because it was a place the person that they were rooting to not do well, but it meant that the championship was that much closer. And then when they finally won, when they finally saw all those zeros on the clock, there was this joy. Everyone jumped up, was grabbing each other, hugging.
Some people were crying. I got choked up. It was -- you saw the gamut of emotions from not just this game, not just this series, but for years, you saw everything of all these things that have finally happened.
(CROSSTALK)
MORALES: And this is just how it is.
(CHANTING)
MORALES: It's like we said, Omar, it is a party atmosphere. And as soon as you can see -- yeah. I'm just going to take you a little bit on this one.
(CHANTING)
MORALES: See, all right, Mark Morales is getting a taste of the people right now. up closed and personal with people clearly smoking on that San Antonio Spurs pack right now.
What we're showing you looks like a cab trying to make its way through the sea of people in New York City that are still out right now checking the time it's hours a little bit more than an hour almost two hours after the Knicks cemented their championship win here, again the first time in decades.
Another interesting thing about this team is the three teammates on this on this squad, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart were also teammates at Villanova University when they won the national championship on that team, which makes them the first set of teammates to have both won together on an NCAA championship team. And now they've done the same thing at the NBA level and in this case doing so in historic fashion.
We always knew that the city was waiting to explode on the results of actually being able to finally get over this hump and again do something they had not done in a long time. I was out on the streets after just game one of this NBA Finals series and it was a similar dynamic in the sense that the game was being played in San Antonio and despite it being an away game people were flooded out in the streets just in pure excitement. And again, at that point, it's still zero, zero. You don't know that the team is going to actually be able to do what they've done tonight.
And yet outside Madison Square Garden, people were packed watching the game on screens outside. And in the most recent game that I covered in person, the largest NBA Finals comeback in history, capped off by the man speaking at the podium right now, OG Anunoby. Let's listen in to a little bit of what he's saying as he stands on this mountaintop.
OG ANUNOBY, KNICKS PLAYER: Is this June 13?
REPORTER: Yes.
ANUNOBY: Yeah, June 13 is a busy day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, right in the center.
REPORTER: Hi, OG. Valeria Rubino, Italy and Senegal, from Seneweb. Someone from the U.K. was very close to his Nigerian roots. What does
it mean to you to prove the word that you can reach the pinnacle of basketball, even if you're from different backgrounds?
[01:05:03]
And more than once, what does it mean to bring back the title to New York after over a century? I mean, a half century.
ANUNOBY: Just that you can do anything you put your mind to, you know? Whatever someone tells you, you can't do something, that's when you can. So just being resilient, being mentally tough, not listening to they, just believing in yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ian?
REPORTER: SNY.
OG, just what was it like in the room for those of us who weren't in there? What was it like in the locker room with that group celebrating this?
ANUNOBY: Just excitement. Everyone just happy for each other. The whole organization, you know, just it's a long season, started in September in Abu Dhabi, to San Antonio in June like we've been through a lot we're very close-knit group, very together, very mentally tough and we're just -- just happy and excitement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On your right.
REPORTER: Hi, OG. So this is your second championship so is there any like different feeling between these two.
ANUNOBY: Pardon?
REPORTER: Is there any like different feeling like between these two championships?
ANUNOBY: I mean last one I didn't get a chance to play but I mean it was special as well I mean they're both very special you know and then this one, had it -- New York hadn't won in 53 years or -- to 53 years. So I mean just I know I'm sure the fans are going crazy, you know, just it's just very special to do it for New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dan on the right side.
REPORTER: Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports. Congratulations, OG.
Just Jalen Brunson, 45 points in a closeout game on the road. What can you say about what he did in his performance tonight?
ANUNOBY: Just, you know, resilient, mentally tough no matter what we're down, just stay in attack mode, played until the end. He's an amazing player, and it showed the world tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Second row, in the middle. REPORTER: Q. Hi, OG, Leo (INAUDIBLE), Prime Video Brazil.
Just want to know how many times you think you're going to be watching your game winner in the next week or so.
ANUNOBY: Right now, I'm just going to be celebrating with my teammates and family and friends. I'm sure one day I'll wake up in August and watch a highlight of it and be proud. I'm very proud of it, but just right now, I'm just excited and happy we won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you, OG.
JIMENEZ: And that was OG Anunoby speaking, the hero of the previous game, tipping in a bucket to cement that largest finals comeback in history. He had tonight 11 points in the win to cement the championship.
I want to go back to Shimon Prokupecz who's been out in the streets for us.
Shimon, we see the sea of people out there. What have you been seeing over this last hour?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so --
(AUDIO GAP)
JIMENEZ: And right as he started speaking, we lost his audio once again.
We can see the shot clearly but lost that audio one more time. So we're going to continue to work on that as the night continues.
Just a little bit about the historic nature of this win. I was looking through some of the NBA stats that they -- that they had put out and one that's really interesting is that the Knicks were the number three seed coming into the Eastern Conference playoffs. Obviously, they're celebrating tonight. six of the last seven number three seeds to reach the NBA Finals have gone on to win the title and now you add the Knicks to that history as well as they capture this mountaintop achievement of basketball.
Mark Morales has been out for us getting mobbed, getting secondhand smoke from whatever they were smoking, seeing fireworks in Times Square.
I feel like you've -- you've been through some form of scavenger hunt of New York City fan celebrations tonight. I don't know what you're going to add next, but I'm going to go to you now and just bring us into Times Square.
MORALES: Well, right now, we can add a dance party to the mix. What we just saw here a little bit ago, it was an impromptu dance party with everybody just moving to the beat and if you look in there they've got a city bike and they were just kind of jumping around on top of that, but you -- you'll see also like a soccer ball kind of just kind of bouncing around that's also being kicked around.
This is the situation here on 42nd Street. It's jammed, shoulder to shoulder with people. This is something completely unplanned, just not only unprecedented, but just everybody coming out into the streets after this Knicks win.
And what we saw a few moments ago too is we saw some of those police officers that were grouped together that had their ride helmets on come through and start dispersing the crowd a bit.
[01:10:00]
So a lot more people left so we were able to move back in a little bit, but the vibes here are nothing short of a party. It's celebration out here. Everybody's here to have a good time.
We're going to pull a fan aside.
Sir, do you want to say something? We're CNN. What did you think of the Knicks win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, beautiful, beautiful. I enjoy it. Enjoy. I'm waiting for the parade. I'm waiting for the parade. I'm so happy.
MORALES: Thank you.
He's one of a lot of people that are waiting for the pride here. This is the popular framework.
(CROWD CHANTING)
MORALES: Mark, that's it. It's become a dance party/mosh pit/celebration here. And you know, we've got this capital bubbles like this is -- this -- you had it right We are getting everything here in New York City tonight.
JIMENEZ: This is a New York City sports fan scavenger hunt, and we're adding blowing bubbles and mosh pit to your scavenger hunt. We've been monitoring these press conferences. Stay safe out there. Go get some shoulder room. We'll get back to you.
We've been monitoring these press conferences over the course of tonight, and there is the man of the match, the man of the year, the man of these finals, Jalen Brunson, finals MVP with the goggles from his celebration.
Let's listen in to what the champ has to say.
REPORTER: You have for years said you're just worried about the next day. You're just worried about the next thing. Take it one game at a time, however you say it. You can't possibly say that right now.
What does it feel like having that mentality throughout your whole life and then having this bubble burst like this?
JALEN BRUNSON, NEW YORK KNICKS PLAYER: We're just going to describe it, but I'll say I put a lot of time and effort into trying to be the best player I can be to try and help a team win. Just really thankful I have the organization, the coaching staff, my teammates, to have my back every single day. I think that means the most to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James in the front right.
BRUNSON: And my family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James in the front right.
REPORTER: James Edwards, "The Athletic". Congrats, Jalen.
Out of curiosity, between the final buzzer and now, have you cried at all?
BRUNSON: Yes.
REPORTER: And if so, why? What was the emotion that got you?
BRUNSON: I was good. I am the final buzzer. I walked right to half court, shook Mitch Johnson's hand. And then I'm turned around. My dad was there and then felt emotional from that point on and then I just remember Josh talking into my ear. And him just saying like we did it, we did it and then.
I was emotional for good like five, 10 minutes. And then the excitement started to kick in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vince, third row on the right.
REPORTER: Jalen, Vince Goodwill, ESPN, congratulations.
Second round pick, being doubted, and now you're the best player on one of the best playoff teams in NBA history. What does that mean to you individually?
BRUNSON: It hasn't sunk in, but I honestly, I don't -- honestly don't know right now. I don't know. I'm just thankful for the opportunity and oh my God. You can take this too here.
Just thankful that this opportunity presented itself and we able to get it done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tim standing here on the left.
REPORTER: Tim Reynolds with "The Associated Press".
Jalen, congratulations. The -- forgive me if you were asked about this earlier, but it could be argued that you made $113 million bet on this happening. What -- when you made that choice and allowed this franchise that sort of flexibility, how possible did you think a night like this was?
BRUNSON: Very possible. Through a lot of hard work and effort, I knew it was achievable, but it was only, that was only a small portion of it. I think everyone binding, coming together, having the mindset of just believing in each other, never giving up. No matter what the situation was, it made this all possible.
But yes, they made -- they may look like it has something to do with it, but it's a credit to my teammates.
[01:15:04]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ian, second row on the right.
REPORTER: Ian Begley, SNY.
Jalen, congratulations. You won in college, obviously winning here. What was it about this group do you think that allowed it to break through?
BRUNSON: Honestly, tonight we played like we wanted to go home champions to finish the game, not to start the game, to finish the game. Yeah. It means the world to me to go on that court with those guys. Whatever environment we're in, home or away, doesn't matter for us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dan, second row on the right.
REPORTER: Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports, congratulations, Jalen.
The team collectively really struggled offensively in the early going of the game. And then it seemed like you just kind of decided that you were going to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and carry it over the finish line, 11 players in NBA history have a 45-point game in the NBA Finals, and you're one of them.
What did it take to get that done tonight?
BRUNSON: Everything. I was just trying to go out there just will us to win. Wasn't focused on anything else besides trying to win the game, getting stops, getting out and running, just figuring out how to cut that lead or gain it when we got it. Really exciting moment -- moment knowing that we just we won't give up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kristian here on the left.
REPORTER: Christian Winfield, "New York Daily News".
Congratulations on becoming a champion at the NBA level.
You know, you took that shot over Wemby, landed on his foot. Could have been whatever, but. You know, you look like it hurt in the moment, but no one had any doubt that you'd be coming back into the game, just like all the other times that you get banged up and come right back.
Just where does that pain tolerance come from and how much does it mean to you to play through that?
BRUNSON: I'm hurting right now, not to lie to you. I'm hurting right now, but like I said before, the opportunity present itself. Whatever you got to do. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over here in the second row.
REPORTER: Jalen, Stefan Monty (ph) with "The New York Post".
Obviously, Leon put a lot of faith. Congratulations.
BRUNSON: Thank you.
REPORTER: Obviously, Leon put a lot of faith in you to be the number one guy. What did that mean to you, that faith? And was there pressure that came along with it? I mean, what can you describe kind of that dynamic?
BRUNSON: No pressure.
REPORTER: OK.
BRUNSON: No pressure whatsoever. I've described pressure in the past, my dad being on eight or nine un-guaranteed contracts throughout his career and not knowing when you're going to get cut, when a team's going to move on from you, while your family's on the East Coast and you're wherever you are in the country. That's pressure.
Working out three times a day in the summertime and watching him push himself just to get a training camp deal, that's pressure. I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am. And I think I worked pretty hard. And so when an opportunity presented itself like it did today, I just trust my work.
And if we win, we win. If we don't, we learn, we move forward. But I'm just never afraid to fail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last row on the back right?
REPORTER: Jalen, Steve Habel here from Field Level Media.
Can you hear me? Steve Habel here from Field Level Media.
Tell us just how hard this was. I mean, it took everything, man. I mean, they came at you in waves for these guys. They're just switching off on you the whole game. I mean, it's just talk about how that took a toll on you mentally and physically and how you dragged them over the line.
BRUNSON: Yeah, I don't think it took a toll on me mentally, maybe a little bit physically, obviously just because of the game and what they're trying to do. Mentally, I feel fresh. I feel like that's where I thrive.
But you got to give them credit. That's a hell of a group. That's well-coached -- the culture that they have is clearly evident. They have it. And so, a lot of respect to them and what they brought to the table. I'm just happy we were able to find ways to win four games.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got last two. Here in the front and then back right. REPORTER: Chelsea Sherrod, SNY. Congratulations, Jalen.
Every championship that you've won has been won in Texas. The first one at Villanova in Houston, the second one in San Antonio, and now this one here in San Antonio that you've won has been won in Texas. The first one at Villanova in Houston, the second one in San Antonio, and now this one here in San Antonio.
What do you have against Texas?
[01:20:01]
And how special is it for you to be able to win this title with Mikal and Josh?
BRUNSON: I have nothing against Texas. I love Texas. I miss. I miss the Texas taxes.
Being able to win with Kale and Josh, it's a great feeling. It's -- it's truly a great feeling knowing that I got to. meet them at a young age, and we were able to grow as friends, as teammates in college, and be able to achieve something in college. And then to be able to do this at this level is just as special, maybe a little more special. But yeah, it's an incredible feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last one in the center.
REPORTER: Congratulations, Jalen. This is a Mo Wu (ph) from A Sports Connect Hong Kong.
Now that you're an NBA champion, what's your message for people saying that you're not a 1A guy?
BRUNSON: I didn't respond to them then. I'm damn sure not going to respond to them now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Jalen.
REPORTER: Thank you.
JIMENEZ: And I just want to point out, as you were listening to finals MVP Jalen Brunson, who just capped off this historic Knicks championship season, that was the first press conference I feel like where he was actually smiling. After every other game when they won, he was very serious, saying there was more work to be done. Even going into this game, he treated this as 0-0.
I want to bring in Shimon Prokupecz, who's been out on the streets for us.
Shimon, talk to us about the celebration you've been seeing on the streets. It doesn't seem like it's been slowing down.
PROKUPECZ: No, it's not slowing down. But to your point about Jalen Brunson, I mean, hearing it's like he's been able to breathe like a sigh of relief here. We're seeing him in such a more comfortable and more relaxed tone. I found it striking.
Yeah, I don't think anybody wants to leave, right? Nobody wants to go home. We're certainly seeing it out here. And just when you think that people are going to leave, it just seems they're walking in a circle because this is about the police are allowing them to gather. They're not allowing them to walk west or east.
We're outside here in Herald Square, just outside the iconic Macy's Store just under the Empire State Building, which is flashing its orange and blue here. I want to show you Omar and this is kind of where people have now for the last couple of hours have been gathering. They've been climbing these light poles. We're seeing another man there.
I don't know what the fascination what this is, but they climb up these light poles and some people are doing pull-ups up there, but that seems to really rev up the crowd when they see people up there. We've been watching that. We've been watching people climb some of the city buses, but traffic here is at a complete standstill and if they try to move traffic, it's not possible.
But none of these people are really leaving and I think what's happening in part the NYPD is kind of just taking a relaxed position here. They're going to let them do this as long as they're not doing anything crazy as long as they're not acting with any violence and just hope -- usually what happens here is that they kind of just hope that they kind of tire themselves out and walk either east, north- south to get out of here.
But people have been standing around. They've been cheering. We've been hearing Knicks in five. We've been hearing a lot of screams and yells and cheers and people saying let's go Knicks, but no one. It's amazing what we're approaching 2:00 a.m. here in New York City and no one wants to leave and people are still full of energy.
And this win has given this city such energy. This series -- just the Knicks all through the playoffs, the energy that they gave the city and you're really feeling it out here and mixed within this crowd. Omar, you know, we talked about this earlier are some of the tourists that are here in New York City because of the World Cup. They are now celebrating along with Knicks fan, the Knicks fans out here. I'm not sure many of them expected this, but they're out here.
You can see some people with Brazil jerseys. They're in the middle of this. They're enjoying this just as much as many of us New Yorkers here. I think some people are just trying to figure out how they're going to get home, trying to get to different train stations that connect to this area. But nothing's moving here. People are just standing in the street. climbing up, singing, dancing and we'll see how long this is going to go.
But there's like really, Omar, it's pretty -- it's pretty wild to see this. No one's leaving. No one wants to leave. People are just wheeling around, hanging out.
[01:25:03] Climbing buses we see here another guy after let's see if you could see this, there's another guy that just climbed. city bus. And that -- and that's basically has been the scene out here. You know, some of this stuff is a little dangerous, obviously very dangerous to be on top of that bus like that, climbing some of these homes really dangerous, but. At this point, what's happening is the police are allowing them to do what they're doing.
We've not seen any really any anything violent so far, thankfully. Certainly, there was a lot of concern for that from the NYPD who saw messages from the mayor earlier and today on Saturday.
JIMENEZ: And Shimon, yeah, the celebration has looked incredible from your shot. Thank you for being out there for us throughout all of this. I know you also have some celebrating to do, so we're going to let you get to that too.
Thanks to our Mark Morales who's been out in the crowds as well covering this celebration for us, a historic night in New York City. Thousands out on the streets as the New York Knicks have done something that they have not done in more than 50 years standing on top of the basketball world as NBA champions.
We've been following the celebrations for you in the hours that have come since they reached that pinnacle. And there are a lot of New Yorkers who are going to bed tonight. At some point, they will go to bed with smiles on their face knowing they are on top of the basketball world once again.
I'm Omar Jimenez. Thanks for sticking around. More news coming up after the break.
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[01:30:16]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brian Abel, live in Washington, D.C. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.
That breaking news is just after 1:00 a.m. Eastern, and the New York City streets are filled with New York Knicks fans celebrating their first NBA title since 1973. The 53-year long drought is over. The Knickerbockers have won the NBA championship after staging a second dramatic comeback in back-to-back games, defeating the Spurs 94-90 in San Antonio to bring home the franchise's third ever NBA title.
The newly crowned champs had trailed for most of the game until breaking through in the fourth quarter.
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ABEL: The city that never sleeps definitely won't be catching a wink of it tonight. Celebrations in full swing in New York. And you can trust New Yorkers to keep that party going until the final piece of confetti falls at the championship parade.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is joining us live from where else? The area of Madison Square Garden.
And Shimon, it's been a party nonstop. How's it looking? Is it starting to die off at all or is this thing going strong? I know that you're going to be celebrating, too.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, I'm very happy. Wow, what a night. No, it doesn't seem to be dying down. Just when we think it's going to die down and people are going to start to leave. People walk one direction, then they come back and then more people start screaming into this area.
They're trying to get as close as they can to Madison Square Garden, which the NYPD has completely shut down. Police are not letting anyone near Madison Square Garden. So instead, this is where people have been gathered were at 6th Avenue, 34th Street, which is just outside the iconic Macy's Department Store.
We're just right by the Empire State Building, which is lit up in orange and blue. I can show you that. That's how close we are. Of course, our viewers will know where this is and what's been happening is the people have now gathered on this bus.
This bus when it first got here, Brian, was completely it was empty. There was like maybe three people on it and whatever you could see people climbing down, but in the last 30, 40 minutes. People have managed to climb up on that bus.
I mean, it's a little dangerous, but this is kind of what's been happening. And then people gathered in the middle of the street here and they're jumping up and down. And that's how people have been celebrating. They've been gathering in these pockets and just jumping up and down and screaming and yelling and cheering. People have been climbing light poles out here.
We've had arrests out here. We see now here's this guy show this guy here and it's hanging on the light pole. I mean, this is kind of stupid, but this is what we're seeing and this is what draws attention. You can see him here hanging on this light pole.
I mean, this is kind of the way people are celebrating out here and then he gets big cheers and that's what sort of leads people to do this. It's dangerous, but it's a good thing this bus is getting out of the way here because it's been drawing a lot of attention.
We'll see what the NYPD here does. They're letting the bus go through. I think they're going to be relieved to start seeing this bus get out of here because it was drawing a lot of attention. And now the crowds are just gathered here in the middle of the street. But I'm trying to just keep an eye here on what the NYPD is going to do with this bus. I don't know if they're going to tell people to get off, but for the most part, the police have been allowing the fans and the people out here celebrating. They've been leaving them alone, allowing them to do what they want to do. But it looks like now the NYPD is going to is trying to get these
people off the bus because they all climbed up there. And now, I'm just trying to keep an eye on what's happening here, but this is the first time we've seen the police take any kind of action out here they've been sort of allowing them to do whatever they want as long as it's not good to -- this is the first time we're actually seeing the police here try to take some action yet.
So now they're forcing all of these people off the bus.
[01:35:01]
So this bus getting out here, these people being forced off of it. And now most of the people here are just gathered in the -- in the middle of the street here. We're also seeing some other people here climbing the street light here on the pole right here. You can see that.
Again, it's very dangerous things that people are doing out here, but this is what's drawing attention a lot of people on social media posting. getting attention off of this. And then you have a lot of -- there's also -- what's interesting, Brian, out here is there's a lot of tourists out here because of the World Cup. We've been seeing a lot of soccer fans, you know, in their jerseys out here.
We were talking to some folks earlier who were not from here. They were here for the World Cup and they were just happy to watch all this. And then the police have now boarded the bus because they want to get -- this bus driver wanted to get the people off the bus and so they were able to do that. And so the bus is going to leave.
But a lot of attention here. This is as close as some people are getting to Madison Square Garden and that is why they have gathered here. Most of these people were watching the game and bars and locations outside of this area. And then all just streamed into this area and have been here for the last couple of hours jumping up and down and we see people somewhat -- a couple of people have been climbing these scaffolding here.
But some dangerous stuff, but you know, what are you going to do? But most of the people out here on the street on the on the ground level have just been celebrating and have been fairly -- it's been fairly peaceful. Certainly there was a lot of concern from the NYPD and massive police response out here. Police saw thousands of cops out here to deal with this.
And so far, from everything we can see, there's been some pockets of violence and we've seen arrests. But for the most part, Brian, everything out here has been just as you see party atmosphere and we'll see how long this will go. I mean, the energy is just incredible, just incredible this entire series.
ABEL: Of course it is, Shimon. You know, on the front of that bus we saw it say iconic, and it kind of makes sense. It's an iconic night. And it was kind of, we want to remind viewers that you're not watching a movie that was not a stunt with that guy that was hanging on the street that jumped onto the bus. Hopefully everybody stays safe. We want to go now to Mark Morales, who is joining us from New York as
well.
Mark, what have you seen and experienced where you are?
MORALES: We're right here on 42nd Street, and on a night like this, it's usually pretty packed, but this is unlike anything the city has ever seen, I don't think anything I've ever seen, and rightfully so, since we're talking about the New York Knicks winning their World Championship.
If you look behind me, you see a bus, and that bus, in just a few moments, had a bunch of people standing on top of it, and now if you look at it, they've ripped off the hood of the bus. So this is -- this is where we are now. We've gotten from like people in the streets, crowds happening and now they're actually trying to -- now they're trying to take apart this bus.
So you know, we're trying to get close to this so we can show you just -- just what's happening. They've gotten inside the bus so. If you see the bus rocking back and forth, you'll actually see people inside. And you'll see over here, if we can get close enough, you'll see some of the people just stopping on the hood.
So the hood's coming at us. This is where we are right now. This is 42nd Street in Manhattan. This is right where we are.
You know, it's a celebration. And as we've seen in a certain moments, some things have gotten out of hand. But this is this is all -- like this is all coming in. If you look here all over to the right -- Chandler, you'll start to see police officers here. So you'll see them with their helmets with the ride sticks.
And this has been kind of the thing, right? Like it's been that line when do you go in? And start enforcing the law. It's been very clear that the police have been letting people sort of celebrate, have a good time. But there always comes a point in time where things end up stopping and police end up having to get involved.
So that's what's going on down over there. But if you look off in this since ever since that happened, since they ripped off the hood of that bus, you're seeing more people. So now you're seeing officers -- police.
[01:40:06]
Yeah. So this is what happens now is that now you'll see police start to push people back and you see riot police here. They're all going in. They're rushing towards the scene.
This is a common police tactic and this is what happens so. Yeah, this is -- this is what ends up happening in these situations.
And this is a good example here. Amidst everything, you have somebody coming up behind you saying "Knicks in five". So this is -- this is where we are right now on 42nd Street, Manhattan. ABEL: I'm not sure how well you're able to hear me because we can hear just how loud it is there, but were you able at all to make out what police were yelling as they were walking past you and towards the hood of that vehicle?
MORALES: They usually yell out, they yell out commands, fall back, get back, get away, move out, that's usually the first thing that they do. They start shouting out commands, trying to get the crowd to leave and disperse, and when they don't, that's when they start a formation, start pushing everybody back.
It's a common tactic that they always do. It's those commands to get back, move away, because as you can see, so they're still dragging that hood, and that could be a dangerous situation, so we're just going to step back a little bit, you don't know where that's coming.
So, yeah, so we're just going to get to a bit of a safe location while they figure out what to do with the hood of this -- this bus. This is -- this is the other side of the celebration that we're seeing like it's been exuberant it's been joy and now it's turned into this for this one particular occasion.
That's not to take away from any of the celebrations that's been going on, because as we've been saying in our coverage, it's been 53 years. People are, for the most part, happy.
For the most part, this night has been without any incident. People have been happy. They've been hugging. Strangers have been saying hello to each other. It's exactly what you would imagine. But part of what the police were trying to plan for was just what we saw right now was those spurts of disorder that kind of come in when nobody really expects it. And that's kind of what we're seeing here.
Like, while this has been happening, 42nd Street has become a bit of a hub, so you have clumps of police officers that have really been here just keeping an eye on the crowd. And that's where we are. And you continue walking down 42nd Street and --
ABEL: And Mark, while you do that --
MORALES: People that are just excited.
ABEL: Yeah, and that's a great point to point out of how elated everybody has been and how it has been from what you have shown us throughout the evening, generally peaceful. We've seen people crowd around you in celebration, and then you have those little moments.
And then we compare that to -- I do want to go back over to Shimon Prokupecz here for a minute because, Shimon, you've seen police come in when there's been traffic that it's been blocked and things of that nature. And you've seen police officers tell people to get out of the way. And from what we've seen on air, at least people are listening to those commands there.
Have you seen anything like what we just saw there with Mark where police are happy to come in, step in and move people? PROKUPECZ: No, we saw some of that earlier and it was peaceful when they asked people to move. Generally, they'll do that if they need to move traffic. They're trying to avoid doing that right now.
The police, I could show you the crowd here. I feel let's just show the crowd. There's no need to show me.
But the crowd right now, they're just this is strategic on the part of the NYPD covered plenty of protests, you know, for the last 10 years at CNN. And what usually happens is they will allow the crowds to do exactly what you see here until maybe they need to move traffic or there's maybe a fight breaks out or there's any kind of violence.
But for right now, we're seeing a lot of the police officers just stand back trying to avoid any kind of confrontation. They certainly don't want to escalate any kind of situation here. People are partying, they're doing their thing.
There's no reason, at least at this intersection, for the police to try and interject themselves into this atmosphere.
[01:45:00]
So as I'll show you here, if you come back a little, just show the police officers, they're all kind of standing back, show the show the cops here. They're all just standing back here and just watching the rest of us.
And you know, when we were watching earlier people climbing the bus and the light pole, they were just shaking their hands at what was happening and we're seeing more people in the distance for whatever reason. This is -- so I don't know why, but they're jumping on cars as cars are moving. Is that what you're trying to show me?
Yeah, they were trying to climb up a truck or something. So -- but you know, people are doing risky things and they're taking sort of their own risks at it. And the NYPD for now is not stepping in.
The goal here is for people to get tired and to go home, but I -- you know the problem is Brian I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon this crowd has not decreased in any way. It has stayed like this even at times more people have come here because there's --
(AUDIO GAP)
ABEL: And, Shimon, your shot is breaking up. We did just hear you, but it is between your shot, I think we have you back here, but between what you are seeing, Shimon, and what Mark's seeing are two kind of different situations that are playing out here where police over by him on 54th seem to be stepping in and police by where you are seem to be holding back.
And from your experience, talk to us about that fine line. Also, you know, it made me kind of chuckle a little bit when he said that the strategy is to have people, you know, wear down. But here in the city that never sleeps, right? New Yorkers historically are known to have a whole lot of energy. So how does this play out?
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, and the police are here. They're going to stay here as long as they have to. What will usually happen is it'll take a chief --
(AUDIO GAP)
ABEL: And we have a connection difficulties again there with Shimon.
So we are going to back away for just a moment and move to Richard Kolko now, a retired FBI supervisory special agent.
Richard, thank you for joining us. I know that you are a Knicks fan as well. I think you have a hat nearby.
So I know that you want to see everything tonight go smoothly. You want to see people celebrating safely. What are you seeing so far? Can you explain to us anything that has stood out to you?
RICHARD KOLKO, FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT (RET.): Well, I think the initial moments after the championship is won, as what happens in lots of cities these days, is this the true fans that are out there that get a little bit exuberant, they're having a good time, they're celebrating, totally understandable. But as the minutes and hours go by after, the tone just seems to change and people seem to want to cause more of a ruckus, more of a problem than just enjoy the event as it's going on.
And you start to see some of the more violent activity take place. That puts law enforcement at a different level of response, and that's kind of what's happening now.
ABEL: Yeah. It seems like, you know, from an outsider perspective without a law enforcement background that some of these instances appear to be people almost testing the boundaries of when will police step in? What can they do and get away with? Is that kind of your understanding as well as how these things will progress throughout the evening usually?
KOLKO: I think it's kind of the crowd mentality. You know, people do things in a group or in a crowd that they wouldn't typically do by themselves or alone in a normal situation. And once that takes hold, things can get out of control fairly quickly. And as the night goes on, you could probably anticipate that there'll be additional problems.
Right now, we've got -- we're watching here where we've got some cameras, and you've got some reporters out there out and about. But New York City is a big city, as we all know, and there will probably be other areas of city where are not being viewed on TV or in the media and can expect some problems there.
So, unfortunately, that's the way things have become over the last, you know, probably a couple decades. But a team wins a championship and people take advantage of the situation, puts police at a much different level of response from kind of a crowd control to crime control. And that's where we're heading at this point.
ABEL: Well, and that's a good point to make, that sometimes cameras can bring out the worst behaviors. I do want you to -- it looks like they're about to knock this bus over.
Richard, if you're still with me here, is this something that's typical? I guess talk to us about that fine line that we've been talking about here about when police officers do step in and when they let people celebrate.
[01:50:08]
KOLKO: Well, they've got to step in now because once they start, if they start burning or looting or tipping buses over as we're watching there or getting close to it right there, now you're talking about people getting hurt, certainly the high likelihood of somebody getting hurt.
So police are going to want to do that. They're going to want to protect people and property. That is their job. So they're going to have to get involved there. But you can see no matter how many police you put on the street right now, they are severely outnumbered. So it's a very complex and complicated operation for them.
Certainly something NYPD out of all the police departments in the entire country are best trained at. Something they deal with, you know, every day as far as crowd control. But again, it's going to go from crowd control to crime control, and it's going to happen very, very quickly now.
ABEL: OK, Richard, I want you to stand by for us as we're going to go back into the crowd where CNN's Mark Morales is.
And Mark, what are you seeing now?
MORALES: Right, and as you can see off in the distance, you see that bus rocking back and forth behind it, you'll see another bus with people standing on top of it.
This is really where 42nd Street is devolved to. It's for the most part, it's been a jubilant celebration, but now this is where things have turned. And from what we understand, there have been multiple arrests happened tonight from all these things that have happened.
And this is really where this comes to. This is really where things come together because it's more than just the what happened -- sorry about that.
(INAUDIBLE)
ABEL: Make sure that you and your crew get somewhere safe. And then we'll come back to you in just a moment once you are in a safer position.
Richard, I want to come back to you here, or Shimon, rather.
We're going to go to Shimon here and see what you are experiencing, Shimon.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, so there was some activity, but the NYPD was sort of given the impression that they were going to move in here. But I think they're still sort of staying back. I'm going to try to take a look here.
We're going to keep the camera where it is so we don't lose the -- but a lot of attention is on this intersection here in the middle. There were a number of people that were climbing the truck. It seems like some of them came down, and then someone was spraying a fire extinguisher up off the scaffolding. And now it's --
ABEL: And Shimon, you're starting, you're starting to break up. We're hearing every couple of words, so not sure if it's the distance from you in the camera, but go ahead.
PROKUPECZ: It could be. How about now? Can you hear me? I'm sorry.
ABEL: I hear much better now. Go ahead.
PROKUPECZ: So they were there were a number of people that climbed the truck and the truck it looks like is now trying to make its way out of here, but that's what's happening here. It's -- they are trying to get traffic moving and then you have the people standing in the middle of the street and traffic can't move. And so sometimes we'll see the NYPD come out and push people aside to get traffic through.
The crowd has thin somewhat here, not a whole lot because it still seems people are coming into this area. but mostly what we're seeing from the police here is many of them are just standing back and allowing the crowd like I said earlier to just kind of wear itself out at some point you know they just hope they get bored because there's only so much they could do in this one area and just move on and stream out and just head to other locations and minimizing any contact that they're having with people here, right? The police officers are standing back And not interacting with anyone in the crowd, not engaging with anyone in the crowd and just holding the line, standing back and allowing the people in the street to just do as you see.
It's interesting because much of the traffic around this area has not been shut down. So that's why we're still seeing cars come into this area. Not many cars at this hour. But cars nonetheless are still trying to make their way across town here. And we're watching some cars now come through. And -- but generally here, I've not seen any confrontation with the police in any of -- but generally here, I've not seen any confrontation with the police in any of the people who have been out here celebrating climbing poles and jumping on trucks and climbing the light poles.
[01:55:07]
They've been allowing them to just do that. And so far, thankfully, no one has gotten hurt here and we've not seen any incidents with the police or with anyone else here.
ABEL: And I think hopefully that is pretty -- that -- that's pretty incredible considering the images that we were seeing the -- in the moments after the next one with how many people, the sheer amount of people that were in the streets that were converging on that area to see what you're seeing now. People just, you know, casually walking through and looking around and just general celebrations while the police are just also just observing and watching without a lot of clashes, unlike what we are seeing over where Mark is.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, it's been a thing that the NYPD really works hard to do is try to minimize any kind of confrontation. So, so far, it's working and we'll see if that continues here.
ABEL: All right. Shimon Prokupecz for us in the area around Madison Square Garden and then on the other side of the screen, you see this shot here of people generally saying out of the street, staying on the sidewalk. So we have seen generally crowd that is celebrating without a whole lot of clashes. But then we are seeing those moments in between.
And we will, of course, be back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM.
