Around 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, less than two hours after the New York Knicks became NBA champions for the first time in 53 years, Chris Straker stood on Sixth Avenue and 35th Street and made an impassioned proclamation.
"The Knicks just won a fucking championship. I'm about to go home and make a kid. I'm about to go have a kid with my girlfriend," the 27-year-old told Hell Gate. "I've been a Knicks fan since Carmelo Anthony. I've been playing ball since I was a little kid. I've always been a Knicks fan. I'm about to go have a kid, like I said, and name him Chris Hart, because you know, he's my heart," Straker said, referring to the all-hustle Knicks guard Josh Hart. "But then Jalen Brunson right now—I might name my son Chris Brunson. I might even name him Jalen Hart, depending on how I'm feeling tonight. I should do some shit like that."
"I'm not going to lie," Straker added. "We out here."
Straker was one of the tens of thousands (Hundreds of thousands? Millions?) of New Yorkers who took to the streets to celebrate. From Herbert Von King Park in Bed-Stuy to Bennett Park in Washington Heights, from Times Square to Dimes Square, fans yelped and wept with joy, blasted fireworks, and sang in unison to Frank Sinatra's "Theme From New York, New York," united in the specter of a dream come true.
Many of the most enthusiastic Knicks fans made their way up to 34th Street near Madison Square Garden, the mecca. The Garden itself was barricaded off by the NYPD—the Australian rock band 5 Seconds of Summer was playing a concert, and ticketed viewers of the watch party outside were cordoned off by the NYPD's Frozen Zone. But fans outside the Frozen Zone still wanted to be nearby, basking in the home court of our triumphantly winning team, and benefited from an area that had already been closed to traffic for the World Cup.
On the uptown F train starting at East Broadway in Manhattan, throngs of revelers wearing orange and blue poured onto the train immediately after the game ended around 11:30 p.m., with each stop prompting a new wave of fans working their way towards MSG alongside jubilant hollers, and "Let's Go Knicks" chants. At the 34th Street-Herald Square station, a jam at the exit stairs and an enterprising 30-something banging a bass drum strapped around his neck provided an opportunity for the crowd to chant "Fuck Trae Young," invoking the Knicks' dashed 2021 playoffs run.