They packed the streets of all five boroughs in New York City, flew thousands of miles to Texas and greeted one another as friends with pithy catchphrases about bagels, religion and a singular, beloved basketball team.
Such unity and warm feelings are not exactly common for New Yorkers. But there was nothing typical about these Knicks. In capturing their first N.B.A. championship in more than 50 years, the Knicks brought joy, unity and a sense of merry to New York like few things ever have.
There were the moments right after the buzzer sounded in San Antonio, when the Knicks defeated the Spurs in Game 5 of the finals to capture the title. The director Spike Lee, decked out in his characteristic Knicks regalia, sprinted onto the floor and hugged the Knicks’ head coach, Mike Brown.
New Yorkers outside Madison Square Garden, the Knicks’ home arena, sobbed on the other side of the country. Confetti fell at Radio City Music Hall. Revelers packed Times Square, climbed scaffolding at St. Marks Place and danced through the streets of the East Village, serenaded by motorists who inched forward among the crowds.
It was the pinnacle of a jubilant scene that has repeated itself these last few weeks of the N.B.A. playoffs. Suddenly, Knicks gear is everywhere. “Knicks in Four” — and then “Knicks in Five” — became a morning salutation. The games were watched in all corners of New York: in person from celebrity row at the Garden, to projections on delivery trucks and even a funeral home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
At times throughout the Knicks’ run, the jubilation turned dangerous. Scores of people climbed trucks, got into fights with one another and otherwise dampened the vibes. Winning had proved painfully elusive, between years of near misses in the 1990s and decades of outright futility since. Scandal and ugly spats — often fomented by the Knicks’ irascible owner, James Dolan — made the losing feel even worse.
There were moments of tension and outright doubt, and even a reminder of the unpleasantness in years prior. President Trump’s visit to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 was met with heightened security and heavy, earsplitting boos. It coincided with the Knicks’ first loss in nearly two months.
The next game, hours after Mr. Dolan escalated a spat with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the police commissioner, Jessica S. Tisch, over watch parties and security, the Knicks went down by nearly 30 points, a seemingly insurmountable deficit.
But then, the Knicks pulled off a comeback for the ages, providing a swing in emotions that almost brought the actor Larry David to his knees. It gave the Knicks a chance on Saturday to end the drought — and for their fans to flood into San Antonio to witness history, despite the Spurs’ best efforts to stop them.
Natalie Rodgers, 28, flew in to San Antonio from Atlanta to catch a glimpse of history. On Saturday afternoon, she was on the River Walk, wearing a hat that said “New York or Nowhere” and a shirt commemorating the Knicks’ run to the finals.
After the game, Ms. Rodgers, who inherited her fandom from her father, said the moment was initially too surreal to grasp. After a few minutes, she felt a sense of overwhelming happiness for the team’s players, particularly the big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
“The thing that makes this Knicks squad special to me is their friendship and love for each other,” Ms. Rodgers said after the game, her voice catching. “I’m so happy for them.”
As the final seconds ticked down, a group of four men, one in a Latrell Sprewell jersey, grabbed one another in an embrace.
As the watch party outside Madison Square Garden began to thin out, Steven Silfa of the Bronx lingered for the trophy ceremony on the big screen and just to stay in the moment.
“The Knicks — my whole life, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mr. Silfa, 37, said as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” boomed over loudspeakers.
He described the team and its late-game comeback as a metaphor. “It shows the resiliency of the city,” Mr. Silfa said. “They’re personifications of New York City: Never give up, always grind it out, never count us out until the last whistle.”
Unlike at the Garden, there is no dedicated celebrity row at Frost Bank Center, where the Spurs play. That did not stop dozens of well-known Knicks fans from making their own celebrity section — and celebrating like they were part of the team.
The Knicks’ die-hards, like Mr. Lee, and the actors Tracy Morgan and Timothée Chalamet, made the trip to Texas. When Josh Hart, the Knicks’ do-everything guard, made his way off the court about 45 minutes after the game ended, he was hugging and jumping with Mr. Chalamet, who bounced all the way to the Knicks locker room.
The director Ben Stiller, who has recorded and posted some of the team’s biggest moments on social media, turned his camera toward Mr. Dolan as the seconds ticked down. Minutes later, Mr. Stiller hugged the actor John Turturro in the front row of the presentation of the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.
Mr. Dolan, who has been widely reviled by Knicks fans for decades, was cheered on Saturday night by thousands of them as he raised the trophy.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” Mr. Dolan said. “But here we are!”
With their team leading with just seconds left, Knicks fans knew the wait was finally over. They started hugging and kissing in the lower bowl of San Antonio’s arena.
Sunil Penesetti, 48, flew in on Saturday morning from Madison, Wis., to see his Knicks. That afternoon, he sipped dark liquor at an upscale hotel near the San Antonio River Walk. He was wearing a John Starks jersey.
When Mr. Penesetti was a boy growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, he said, the Knicks were an escape from an abusive household. Mr. Starks and Patrick Ewing were his heroes.
“This championship represents more than just basketball,” Mr. Penesetti said after the title-winning game. “It represents the achievement of a lifetime dream.”
Claire Fahy, Jesse McKinley and Sean Piccoli contributed reporting from New York City. Tania Ganguli contributed reporting from San Antonio.
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