This is about a game, about overcoming adversity, about beating the odds, and about a city that is at once great and glamorous, yet oppressively hard to live in.But the Knicks, in winning their first championship in 53 years, are not just a New York story.Their teamwork, discipline and dedication became a national story, a Cinderella story.
They touched hearts in a very cynical culture. Imagine if politicians acted like this.If they put aside their hyper-partisanship and ideological agendas for the good of the country.
If their default setting was cooperation and compromise rather than grabbing credit and demonizing opponents.Okay, you’re right.
It’s too hard to imagine. It’s not about how many points Jalen Brunson scored (45 in Game 5, when he single-handedly carried the Knicks to victory).It’s about how he was long dismissed as weak and undersized (by NBA standards).
The 6-foot-2 Brunson, who wasn’t drafted until the second round, had something to prove.Think of all the folks who feel underrated or misunderstood at their job, and how deeply they want to be recognized for their value.TAYLOR SWIFT DANCES, SHIMMIES AND STEALS HEADLINES AS KNICKS ERASE 29-POINT HOLE IN NBA FINALS STUNNERA fan celebrates the New York Knicks' win against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, on a street near Madison Square Garden, in New York City, June 14, 2026.
(Christian Monterrosa/REUTERS)It’s about the greatest city on earth, which is also the most frustrating city on earth.I once wrote that New Yorkers live under conditions that would cause riots in any other city, and I haven’t changed that view.
Everybody is squeezed together.It’s absurdly overcrowded. As a guy from Brooklyn, who played in a league and in the asphalt jungle, where if you lost you had to sit on the sidelines for a good long time, I don’t pretend to be unbiased.
We played touch football in the street and had to stop every time a car came.That was before we got on the grass...