ONCE THE FINAL 1.2 seconds drained from the clock at Madison Square Garden letting the New York Knicks survive Wednesday's Game 4 of the NBA Finals with one of the most unlikely triumphs in basketball history a thunderous celebration swept through the building.

It echoed past the crowds gathered outside the Garden. It reached watch parties spread across Manhattan's West Village Brooklyn Queens the Bronx and Staten Island. The whole city and nearby tri-state region celebrated the biggest comeback in Finals history.

Although OG Anunoby's game-winning tip-in did not seal the title it took three more days and about 1,500 miles to finish the job in Game 5 generations of frustration and disappointment seemed to lift with every step of New York's 29-point rally.

For 53 years this had not been New York's role in the basketball world. It may be called The City Game yet it had not belonged to this city for quite some time. Until now.

NEW YORK CITY has produced a roster of unforgettable champions over the past five decades.

The Giants captured four Super Bowls in that span three in dramatic style: defeating the Jim Kelly-led Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV after Scott Norwood missed a last-second field goal; David Tyree's helmet catch helping topple the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII; and four years later beating Tom Brady Bill Belichick and the Patriots again in the final minute.

The Mets took the 1986 World Series in a Fall Classic that shared echoes with the 2026 NBA Finals. The pivotal play the ball rolling through Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's legs to score the winning run came in Game 6 with the Mets still required to close out Game 7.

The Yankees built another dynasty as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera guided the most successful franchise in major North American sports to five of the club's 27 titles.

The Islanders claimed four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980s while the Rangers the other Madison Square Garden tenant ended a 54-year championship drought in 1994 with a thrilling run that included seven-game wins in the conference finals and Final. The Liberty after repeated postseason disappointments secured the 2024 WNBA crown against the Minnesota Lynx.

Yet while New York divides its passions among baseball football and hockey this remains a Knicks town and always will be. New Yorkers have long shared their collective frustration.

Knicks supporters across New York City erupt in celebration of the championship victory

FOR FIVE DECADES the Knicks have pursued the level achieved by the 1970 and 1973 title squads.

Part of the reason lies in how exceptional those teams were. Featuring Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe in the backcourt along with Bill Bradley Dave DeBusschere and Willis Reed up front those Hall of Fame Knicks lineups emphasized unity ball movement and chemistry and remain viewed as a model for how the game should be played.

Another factor is that rediscovering that feeling long seemed out of reach for the city.

Numerous close calls occurred. Charles Smith's missed layups in the 1993 conference finals versus the Chicago Bulls. John Starks shooting 2-for-18 against the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals. Reggie Miller's eight points in nine seconds in Game 1 and Patrick Ewing's missed finger roll at the buzzer in Game 7 of the 1995 East semifinals. The controversial suspensions that eliminated New York from the 1997 East semifinals against the Miami Heat. And after an unexpected run as an 8-seed in the lockout-shortened season a five-game defeat to the San Antonio Spurs in the 1999 Finals.

Afterward for a generation the Knicks became the league's punchline.

The franchise grew so directionless that in 2008 then-NBA commissioner David Stern urged owner James Dolan to bring in team president Donnie Walsh from the Indiana Pacers to stabilize operations. Yet that step led to further failed deals and poor on-court results prompting Dolan to dismiss Walsh and general manager Glen Grunwald in short order.

From 2001-02 through 2021-22 New York dropped more than a thousand games posting the NBA's lowest winning percentage in the regular season at 40.1 percent and in the playoffs at 26.7 percent. Those 21 seasons included 14 coaches five campaigns with fewer than 25 wins and only eight playoff victories.

Instead the World's Most Famous Arena earned a reputation as a favorite venue for opposing stars.

From Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry the sport's elite players visited and praised the electric atmosphere partly because they nearly always left with a victory.

Still New York supporters soon discovered renewed optimism in a roster without a conventional superstar.

SUCCESS IN THE NBA more than in any other major team sport hinges on possessing the top player. The Knicks have rarely held that advantage.

In their 80-year history only Reed has earned the league Most Valuable Player award and it is no accident that this coincided with the franchise's sole period atop the NBA. Only five Knicks have earned All-NBA first-team honors: Reed Frazier Ewing Bernard King and Harry Gallatin.

Yet that reality never prevented the franchise's devoted followers from repeatedly believing the title was within reach.

They hoped for Curry only to see him drafted one spot before New York picked in 2008. They envisioned LeBron and Durant joining as free agents only for neither to give serious consideration. They wished for lottery fortune in the form of Zion Williamson.

And yet here they stand with their leader Finals MVP Jalen Brunson serving as the godson of the team's president of basketball operations a player signed to a deal viewed as an overpay four years earlier who has since reshaped the franchise.

Brunson's rise however did not erase the lingering sense of impending misfortune that has long shadowed the Knicks and especially Madison Square Garden. So many painful moments and tough defeats have occurred on that floor that an undercurrent persists inside the arena that events will eventually turn against the home side.

Even after delivering the greatest stretches in NBA history to open a 2-0 lead in these NBA Finals a poor second half in Game 3 and a dismal first half in Game 4 at MSG left supporters anxious. New York trailed by 29 and chants of "Spurs in 6" rang throughout the building.

For a franchise long accustomed to hardship it appeared fitting that the Knicks on the brink of ultimate glory would inflict the harshest disappointment yet on their supporters.

That outcome never arrived. With every Spurs miss every Brunson basket and every favorable bounce the crowd grew louder and louder until the arena seemed ready to tremble. That intensity built before Anunoby leaped and redirected the ball through the hoop when defeat seemed certain.

It explained why no one wanted to depart afterward savoring the impossible turning real. The franchise long on the losing side of memorable playoff moments had created one of its own. Then on Saturday night the Knicks completed the task.

More than a half-century later a new successor to that legacy has emerged. The New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions. A parade through the Canyon of Heroes lies ahead.