00:00For 53 long years we have watched the Knicks and we have waited.
00:04We waited as the memory of Willis Reed winning the championship on one leg grew fainter and fainter.
00:10We waited without ever knowing if this day would come and we waited because we knew
00:14deep down in our sick, suffering hearts that it would.
00:18For 53 long years we have watched and we have waited.
00:23We have watched from nosebleeds and through gritted teeth
00:27on televisions in the windows of electronic stores
00:30and from projectors balanced on fire escapes.
00:34We have watched alone in our apartments with our heads in our hands
00:38shoulder to shoulder at bars where the signal flickers
00:41alongside friends and family who we wish more than anything could be here today
00:47sharing this moment.
00:49For 53 long years we have watched the Knicks and we have waited.
00:53We waited as the memory of Willis Reed winning the championship on one leg
00:57grew fainter and fainter.
00:59We waited as Clyde came up clutch again and again.
01:04As John Starks dunked on Jordan and Patrick Ewing dunked on the Pacers.
01:10As Bernard King scored 60.
01:14As Charles Oakley pulled every rebound within reach.
01:18As Spike got in Reggie Miller's face.
01:22As Alan Houston put up a shot against Miami that hung in the air for an eternity.
01:27As Larry Johnson gave us the four-point play heard around New York.
01:32As Starbury traded threes with Kobe and then sold sneakers every kid could afford.
01:37As Nate Robinson stuffed Yao Ming.
01:40As the city came alive watching Linsanity.
01:44And as Melo lived every Brooklyn dreams when he came home.
01:49And made MSG feel like the center of the universe once again.
01:54We waited without ever knowing if this day would come.
01:57And we waited because we knew deep down in our sick suffering hearts that it would.
02:03New York City, this team has done it.
02:06But the New York Knicks are NBA champions.
02:14We are here not just because of this team that will go down in New York City legend.
02:19I'm talking about guys like Ronaldo Bauchman.
02:22Marty Collins.
02:23Raymond Felton.
02:24Marcus Camby.
02:25Kristaps Porzingis.
02:26J.R. Smith.
02:27Iman Shumpert.
02:28And the whole Knicks tape era.
02:31I'm talking about guys like Tony Douglas.
02:33Who I watched tie the single game franchise record for threes from the stands in 2011.
02:39I'm talking about Amari who got this whole city fired up when he joined.
02:43And I'm talking about Jared Jeffries and Lance Thomas and Langston Galloway.
02:48Players who gave everything every game even when a 20 win season was all that was in sight.
02:54This championship belongs to them too because championships aren't just built in one season.
03:00It belongs to Emmanuel Quickly, R.J. Barrett, Dante DiVincenzo, Julius Randle.
03:08And also to a coach who helped lay the groundwork, Tom Thibodeau.
03:13Thanks to each of these New Yorkers and too many others to name, New York City has just
03:18had two of the most magical months in as long as any of us can remember.
03:23Over these past weeks, as the Knicks kept winning, our city has come together as one.
03:30Neighbors invited neighbors over.
03:33Strangers high-fived one another in the street.
03:36Subway conductors sang their announcements and bus drivers danced behind the wheel.
03:41So often when this city comes together, it is because we are forced to, by a moment of
03:46tragedy or adversity.
03:48What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.
03:57For as long as we live, we will remember this feeling of a city together.
04:01A city alive.
04:03A city overcome by happiness.
04:05But let's not pretend that this was inevitable.
04:08If you will allow me, I want to travel back in time, eight days.
04:12Game four.
04:14Nine minutes and 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
04:17The Knicks are down 20.
04:19The analytics guys, the sports betting companies, the pundits who watch from far away, they do
04:25what they do.
04:26They run the numbers.
04:27They calculate the odds.
04:29They write the Knicks off.
04:31They give the Spurs a 99.6% chance of winning the game.
04:38A 99.6% chance of tying up the series 2-2.
04:42Of reclaiming the momentum with the next game in San Antonio.
04:46A 99.6% chance of silencing the garden.
04:50Of another year of watching and waiting.
04:53But there is one thing that the pundits just don't get about this team.
04:57That they just don't get about this city.
04:59It is in that 0.4% that we go to work.
05:06It is in that 0.4% that Jalen Brunson, the same guy that so many said was too small,
05:13proves that not only is he good enough, he is the new standard for greatness.
05:21It is in that 0.4% that OG Ananobi
05:28watches the ball float from the top of the arc
05:31and start running toward the basket, fingers reaching towards the heavens.
05:35It is in that 0.4% that Carl Anthony Towns
05:43finds the strength to mourn his mother and still pull in rebound after rebound.
05:49Make block after block.
05:51It is in that 0.4% that Jose Alvarado shows every kid
05:58growing up in public housing
06:00that a son of Brooklyn and Queens can win for every one of the five boroughs.
06:08It is in that 0.4% that Mitch breaks his finger before game one and says,
06:13go get the tape.
06:16It's in that 0.4%
06:18that Josh Hart gets rebounds that break teams.
06:22That McCall Bridges proves he was worth every single draft pick.
06:29That Landry Schammett pulls up from downtown.
06:35That every one of these 18 players transforms the franchise.
06:40That Mike Brown keeps this team believing.
06:47Most of all, it's in that 0.4% that the Knicks do what New Yorkers have always done
06:53when we are told something is impossible.
06:56We find a way.
06:58We win.
07:00Standing here before what feels like the entire city,
07:04there is a Jalen Brunson quote I can't stop thinking about.
07:11I'm going to tell you.
07:13You are allowed to think about the worst possible scenario,
07:17but you got to go out there and do something about it.
07:23When Jalen Brunson took that pay cut,
07:25my friends, that was doing something about it.
07:30Time after time, we thought about the worst possible scenario.
07:33And time after time, the Knicks went out there
07:36and did something about it.
07:39The Knicks did not just win for New York City.
07:42They won like New York City.
07:45What is New York if not your back up against the wall?
07:48A dream that feels just out of reach.
07:51A rent payment you don't know how you'll ever make.
07:54What is New York if not 99.6% of the world stacked against you?
07:59And who are New Yorkers if not people who hear those odds and smile?
08:04Who look at a 0.4% chance of success and ask,
08:07why are you giving me a head start?
08:10This is our city.
08:11This is our team.
08:13For 53 years, we watched.
08:16For 53 years, we waited.
08:18Now, we've won.
08:23One last time, New York, say it with me.
08:26Nixon!
08:28Nixon!
08:30Nixon!
08:32So much.
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