{"id":1989163,"date":"2026-06-14T10:55:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T07:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1989163"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T07:55:46","slug":"what-i-saw-as-the-knicks-celebrated-their-first-nba-title-in-53-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1989163","title":{"rendered":"What I saw as the Knicks celebrated their first NBA title in 53 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN ANTONIO \u2014 OG Anunoby does not drink.<\/p>\n

Correction: Anunoby did not drink. Then the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals<\/a>. And for a few seconds, he drank.<\/p>\n

The locker room was already in hysteria, players drenched in champagne and beer as 50 Cent\u2019s \u201cIn Da Club\u201d blasted on the speakers. Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson were the only two players with anything short of a chaotic vibe. Robinson sat at his locker bobbing his head to the music, more likely than not thinking about the F150 he submitted to the Atlantic City Truck Meet, which he will attend Sunday. If he wins \u201cbest interior\u201d once again (two of his other trucks have already won that award), then he will, as he so eloquently proclaimed, \u201cGet f\u2014\u2013 up!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Clarkson rested next to him, peacefully smoking a cigar as the lyrics perfectly described the scene around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can find me in da club. Bottle full of bub.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The bottles had already popped. The floor of the San Antonio Spurs\u2019 visiting locker room was soaked in champagne. One Knicks executive arrived prepared for the moment, carrying with him a brown, wooden box of 53 celebratory cigars, one for each year that had passed since the organization\u2019s last title. The Knicks had closed out a 94-90 victory Saturday night in Game 5<\/a>. They were champions. And Anunoby, who just reeled off a playoff run that will go down in history, if only because it included one of the greatest blocks as well as one of the greatest game winners ever, was feeling himself.<\/p>\n

This was a night when it was impossible for the famously reserved Anunoby to contain emotion. As he flashed a smile that covered up his entire face, a trainer walked by. He was holding a giant bottle of tequila. Anunoby does not drink.<\/p>\n

But he figured, what the heck?<\/p>\n

His teammates had imbibed, some to glorious degrees. Not two minutes after the championship ceremony concluded, backup center Ariel Hukporti emerged onto the court for an entrance that must have been scripted by Dr. Seuss.<\/p>\n

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Hukporti double-fisted two 40s.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get this s\u2014 started!\u201d he yelled to no one in particular.<\/p>\n

With that bottle of tequila blanco in front of him, Anunoby exuded the same energy. He grabbed the neck of it, lifted it to his mouth, tilted his head back and took a swig, as if he had discovered water after weeks stranded in the desert. But this was not water, and his body reacted as such. He started to cough. The tequila poured down his face. He screamed. As he yelped from the burning in his chest, he laughed, uncontrollably.<\/p>\n

This was mania, the type borne out of extraordinary achievement, such as accomplishing a feat you had worked for your entire life. Little kids fantasize about winning an NBA title. The Knicks just did it in unique fashion, winning 15 of their final 16 playoff games. Now that it is done, it is officially one of the greatest displays of postseason dominance in league history.<\/p>\n

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The 2025-26 Knicks were a wrecking ball, a group incapable of slowing down. By the time they got to the Eastern Conference finals, they didn\u2019t believe anyone could beat them. They could fall down by 22 in a fourth quarter, and they figured they would win \u2014 and they would end up correct. A deficit could bubble to 29, and it wouldn\u2019t matter. The Knicks would steal that game, too.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Why<\/p>\n
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\n Why the NBA champion Knicks are the greatest team in New York sports history\n <\/div>\n
\n They accomplished so much on the court, and impacted so much off it, that they don\u2019t merely deserve to go down as the finest Knicks team.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Years from now, no one will remember how many regular-season games the Knicks won or even that they broke the record for point differential in a single postseason. But this group\u2019s resilience will stick with people. It is the defining trait.<\/p>\n

So, it only made sense that Anunoby would go back for another swig, even after the first one nearly incinerated his esophagus. Not even five seconds after handing the bottle back to its original keeper, Anunoby reached his long arm out for another try. He grabbed the tequila as the trainer chuckled.<\/p>\n

He knew the comedy that was about to ensue.<\/p>\n

Anunoby went for the same stunt. He strangled the top of the bottle and turned it upside down over his mouth, providing an open pipe to his stomach. Tequila shot into his throat and all over his face. He kept drinking.<\/p>\n

One Mississippi. Two Mississi \u2014 and then the coughs came. But these were not the sounds of someone choking. It was the shrill of a baby ostrich breaking a leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAHHEAWWWW!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Anunoby bent over at the waist and grabbed his stomach. He smelled like Edgar Allen Poe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAHHHEAAWWWW!! AHHHEAAWWWW!!!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the laughter, not just from everyone around him but from him, too, crazed howling, half from pain and half from delirium.<\/p>\n

These were his last sips, if you can call them sips.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t drink,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Well, he didn\u2019t, until he became a champion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 OG Anunoby does not drink. Correction: Anunoby did not drink. Then the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals. And for a few seconds, he drank. The locker room was already in hysteria, players drenched in champagne and beer as 50 Cent\u2019s \u201cIn Da Club\u201d blasted on the speakers. Mitchell Robinson and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1989163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1989163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1989163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1989163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1989163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}