00:00Give a warm welcome to our mayor of New York City, Mayor Mamdani.
00:10My fellow New Yorkers,
00:14for 53 long years we have watched and we have waited.
00:19We have watched from nosebleeds and through gritted teeth,
00:23on televisions in the windows of electronic stores,
00:26and from projectors balanced on fire escapes.
00:30We have watched alone in our apartments with our heads in our hands,
00:34shoulder to shoulder at bars where the signal flickers,
00:38alongside friends and family who we wish more than anything could be here today,
00:43sharing this moment.
00:45For 53 long years we have watched the Knicks and we have waited.
00:49We waited as the memory of Willis Reed winning the championship on one leg
00:53grew fainter and fainter.
00:55We waited as Clyde came up clutch again and again,
01:00as John Starks dunked on Jordan and Patrick Ewing dunked on the Pacers.
01:06As Bernard King scored 60.
01:09As Charles Oakley pulled every rebound within reach.
01:14As Spike got in Reggie Miller's face.
01:17As Alan Houston put up a shot against Miami that hung in the air for an eternity.
01:23As Larry Johnson gave us the four-point play heard around New York.
01:28As Starbury traded threes with Kobe and then sold sneakers every kid could afford.
01:32As Nate Robinson stuffed Yao Ming.
01:36As the city came alive watching Linsanity.
01:40And as Melo lived every Brooklyn dreams when he came home and made MSG feel like the center of the
01:48universe once again.
01:50We waited without ever knowing if this day would come and we waited because we knew deep down in our
01:56sick suffering hearts that it would.
01:59New York City, this team has done it.
02:03The New York Knicks are NBA champions.
02:10We are here not just because of this team that will go down in New York City legend.
02:15I'm talking about guys like Ronaldo Bauchman, Marty Collins, Raymond Felton, Marcus Camby, Kristaps Porzingis, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumper
02:24and the whole Knicks tape era.
02:26I'm talking about guys like Tony Douglas who I watched tie the single-game franchise record for threes from the
02:32stands in 2011.
02:34I'm talking about Amari who got this whole city fired up when he joined.
02:39And I'm talking about Jared Jeffries and Lance Thomas and Langston Galloway.
02:44Players who gave everything every game even when a 20-win season was all that was in sight.
02:50This championship belongs to them too because championships aren't just built in one season.
02:56It belongs to Emmanuel Quickly, R.J. Barrett, Dante DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, and also to a coach who helped lay
03:06the groundwork, Tom Thibodeau.
03:09Thanks to each of these New Yorkers and too many others to name, New York City has just had two
03:15of the most magical months in as long as any of us can remember.
03:19Over these past weeks, as the Knicks kept winning, our city has come together as one.
03:26Neighbors invited neighbors over.
03:29Strangers high-fived one another in the street.
03:32Subway conductors sang their announcements and bus drivers danced behind the wheel.
03:37So often when this city comes together, it is because we are forced to, by a moment of tragedy or
03:43adversity.
03:44What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.
03:52For as long as we live, we will remember this feeling of a city together, a city alive, a city
03:59overcome by happiness.
04:01But let's not pretend that this was inevitable.
04:04If you will allow me, I want to travel back in time, eight days.
04:08Game four.
04:09Nine minutes and 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
04:13The Knicks are down 20.
04:15The analytics guys, the sports betting companies, the pundits who watch from far away, they do what they do.
04:22They run the numbers.
04:23They calculate the odds.
04:25They write the Knicks off.
04:27They give the Spurs a 99.6% chance of winning the game.
04:34A 99.6% chance of tying up the series 2-2.
04:38Of reclaiming the momentum with the next game in San Antonio.
04:42A 99.6% chance of silencing the garden.
04:46Of another year of watching and waiting.
04:49But there is one thing that the pundits just don't get about this team.
04:52That they just don't get about this city.
04:55It is in that 0.4% that we go to work.
05:01It is in that 0.4% that Jalen Brunson, the same guy that so many said was too small,
05:09proves that not only is he good enough, he is the new standard for greatness.
05:17It is in that 0.4% that O.G. Ananobi
05:24watches the ball float from the top of the arc and start running toward the basket,
05:29fingers reaching towards the heavens.
05:31It is in that 0.4% that Carl Anthony Towns
05:39finds the strength to mourn his mother and still pull in rebound after rebound,
05:44make block after block.
05:46It is in that 0.4% that Jose Alvarado shows every kid
05:54growing up in public housing that a son of Brooklyn and Queens can win for every one of the five
06:01boroughs.
06:04It is in that 0.4% that Mitch breaks his finger before game one and says,
06:09go get the tape.
06:11It is in that 0.4% that Josh Hart gets rebounds that break teams.
06:18That McCall Bridges proves he was worth every single draft pick.
06:25That Landry Schammett pulls up from downtown.
06:31That every one of these 18 players transforms the franchise.
06:36That Mike Brown keeps this team believing.
06:43Most of all,
06:45it's in that 0.4% that the Knicks do what New Yorkers have always done
06:49when we are told something is impossible.
06:52We find a way.
06:53We win.
06:56Standing here before what feels like the entire city,
07:00there is a Jalen Brunson quote I can't stop thinking about.
07:07I'm going to tell you.
07:09You are allowed to think about the worst possible scenario.
07:13But you got to go out there and do something about it.
07:19When Jalen Brunson took that pay cut, my friends, that was doing something about it.
07:25Time after time, we thought about the worst possible scenario.
07:29And time after time, the Knicks went out there and did something about it.
07:35The Knicks did not just win for New York City.
07:37They won like New York City.
07:41What is New York if not your back up against the wall?
07:44A dream that feels just out of reach.
07:47A rent payment you don't know how you'll ever make.
07:49What is New York if not 99.6% of the world stacked against you?
07:55And who are New Yorkers if not people who hear those odds and smile?
08:00Who look at a 0.4% chance of success and ask,
08:03Why are you giving me a head start?
08:05This is our city.
08:07This is our team.
08:09For 53 years, we watched.
08:12For 53 years, we waited.
08:14Now, we've won.
08:19One last time, New York, say it with me.
08:22Nixon!
08:24Nixon!
08:26Nixon!
08:27So much!
08:29So much!
08:31So much!
Comments