NBA-Knicks' 'magical' return to Finals has been a long time coming for New York

May 26 : Long-suffering New York Knicks fans woke up on Tuesday still buzzing from a night of celebration after their basketball team advanced to an NBA Finals that they will enter as underdogs, regardless of who they face in their bid to end a 53-year title drought.

A sea of blue and orange flooded New York City streets well into the night on Monday after the Knicks completed a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers to reach the Finals for the first time since 1999.

Many of the fans carried brooms, which they used to playfully sweep sidewalks and wave in the air during the celebrations. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani poked fun at the Cavaliers on X, writing, "@NYCSanitation I'd like to report a sweep."

"It's a magical thing, it's a historic thing," Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said after scoring a team-high 19 points in the clinching game in Cleveland. "It's something New York has been dying for, for a long, long time."

"But for us as players, we understand that the job's not done."

FROM NBA LAUGHINGSTOCK TO CONTENDER

After years of struggle, the NBA's third most valuable franchise began to turn things around with the arrival of team President Leon Rose, who came on board in March 2020 just as the team was headed toward a seventh consecutive season out of the playoffs.

Rose helped transform the Knicks from a laughingstock into a championship contender. They have only missed the postseason once in the last six seasons and reached the penultimate round of the 2025 playoffs, where they lost in six games to the Indiana Pacers.

Jalen Brunson, who was named this year's Eastern Conference Finals MVP, has led the way since signing with the Knicks four years ago. The team has built around the point guard, bringing in players