JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It was a joyous celebration of a team and a city this morning, as the NBA champion New York Knicks were honored with a ticker-tape parade down Broadway. So many fans crowded into Lower Manhattan that the New York Police Department urged people to stay away. NPR's Brian Mann was there.
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BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Hours before parade time, people are already streaming downtown. Esha Nadeem from Long Island is on the 1 train with her husband.
ESHA NADEEM: I grew up with a brother who was a diehard Knicks fan, and then I married a diehard Knicks fan.
MANN: When the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs for the championship last Saturday, her husband, Zane, says he couldn't believe it.
ZAIN NADEEM: I've waited a long time for this. I've watched them through all their years.
MANN: It had been 53 years since the last Knicks championship. Esha says the celebration has been crazy.
E NADEEM: You started screaming that I got a ringing in my left ear. I thought I was going deaf.
MANN: She's fine - more than fine, grinning ear to ear. In the subway station, I meet Howard Rosenblum, who came down from Upstate New York for the parade.
HOWARD ROSENBLUM: Last time they won, I was 10 years old. It was amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Let's go Knicks. Let's go Knicks. Let's go Knicks.
MANN: Down at the very tip of Manhattan Island, the parade is forming, and the crowd is already massive and fired up.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: You want Knicks in five? You want Knicks in five? You want Knicks in five? You got Knicks in five.
MANN: There's joy but also relief. Remember, the Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby, came from behind in Game 4, overcoming the biggest points deficit in NBA finals history. Then they came from behind again in Game 5 to clinch the title.
KEVIN CASTOR: A sigh of relief - finally, we got it. I cried a little bit.
MANN: Kevin Castor brought his whole family to the parade. He says it was worth the wait.
CASTOR: Great for the city. Great for Knicks fans. From ups and downs, you know? You're in the trenches. Best feeling ever.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Yes.
(CHEERING)
MANN: The crowd erupts as members of the team start going by on floats. There are also celebrities - the actor Timothee Chalamet, the comedian Tracy Morgan, the director Spike Lee. But part of the joy here is that this also feels, at times, like a small-town parade. There are fire trucks and baton twirlers and high school marching bands.
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MANN: Soon, the stretch of Broadway known as the Canyon of Heroes is snowing with ticker tape. Faith Brown and Mark McGraw are sitting on a bench watching. They say they're kind of overwhelmed.
MARK MCGRAW: I can't - I'm lost for...
FAITH BROWN: Yes.
MCGRAW: ...Words. I'm crying.
MANN: When you went into this season, did you guys think this was possible?
BROWN: He was scared.
MCGRAW: I was scared.
BROWN: I wasn't. I said it - got it in the bag (ph).
MCGRAW: She kept the faith.
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MANN: The parade leads to a ceremony at city hall, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a huge Knicks fan, gives the team a ceremonial key to the city. So often when this city comes together, Mamdani says, it's because we're forced to by a moment of tragedy. What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAY-Z AND ALICIA KEYS SONG, "EMPIRE STATE OF MIND") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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