‘Thank God for the Knicks’: New Yorkers abuzz after historic Game 4 comeback

New Yorkers woke up on Thursday morning – those who had even slept in the city that never sleeps – still jubilant after the Knicks men’s basketball team had made history the night before.

The team staged the largest comeback in NBA finals history to overcome the San Antonio Spurs in the dying seconds of the fourth game of the finals – and put themselves 3-1 up and within one game of a rare championship win.

The Big Apple is buzzing to its core. There was dancing, singing and chanting into the wee hours in the streets in parts of all five city boroughs but especially around midtown Manhattan. There, the New York Knickerbockers, to give the team its full title, had overcome a whopping 29-point lead by the Spurs at Madison Square Garden to turn dismay into delirium for home town fans. The Empire State Building glowed as it was lit up in the team’s orange-and-blue colors.

Early the next morning, bleary-eyed commuters rushed to work, double coffees in hand after a late night, and pedestrians criss-crossing sidewalks and busy junctions had a spring in their step.

A Game 4 watch party in Central Park. Photograph: Heather Khalifa/AP

“Oh, man, I’m feeling fantastic,” 53-year-old Kiba Bones said in midtown Manhattan early on Thursday as he paused to talk for a few seconds. “It was epic, it was history made. Thank God for the Knicks.”

Bones, who was born and raised in the Bronx but now lives in Queens, said he watched the game at home. “Knicks in five,” he said, adding that the “last time we won, was when I was born”.

Bones was referring to the fact that, if the Knicks win the fifth game this Saturday out of the seven potential games in the finals, they will be national basketball champions for the first time since way back in 1973.

Despite an absolute crowd frenzy outside “the garden” arena as Wednesday night turned into Thursday, by the time the morning sun and humidity were starting to steam up Manhattan in an early summer heat bump, the streets had been cleaned and crews were clearing safety barricades.

Among the morning rush was a sea of orange and blue. Dozens of commuters were sporting Knicks caps and jerseys. Strangers wearing orange and blue caught each other’s eyes and nodded to each other knowingly.

Fans gather outside a restaurant in Brooklyn to watch a screening of Game 4. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

“Let’s go, Knicks!” one man shouted across Seventh Avenue. The call was answered instantly by another with: “Knicks in five!”

Inside the arena after the winning shot on Wednesday night, even seasoned celebrities sitting in their prime, court sideseats seemed floored.

Spike Lee almost collapsed in euphoric surprise after OG Anunoby’s winner dropped through the net. Jerry Seinfeld stood frozen with his mouth agape while Larry David and John McEnroe stared toward the court in apparent disbelief. Nearby, Taylor Swift threw her arms around Mariska Hargitay, then later danced, as fans leaped from their seats and roared in unison. Timothée Chalamet grasped his face in shock. In a city accustomed to spectacle, where a certain blasé detachment and cosmopolitan indifference are often treated as civic virtues, even some of its most recognizable faces appeared briefly overwhelmed and genuinely astonished.

Many of the heightened security measures introduced for Donald Trump’s appearance at Game 3 remained in place on Wednesday at Game 4 in anticipation of potential unrest. Beginning at around 4pm, authorities had sealed off several blocks around the arena, creating what the New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch described as a “frozen zone”.

People watch Game 4 in Brooklyn. Photograph: Ed Ou/Reuters

But within minutes of the final buzzer, thousands of orange-and-blue-clad revelers converged on the streets with fans streaming out of the arena, and filled the streets around Penn Station, erupting into chants of: “Knicks in five!” and “Fuck you, Wemby!”, referring to the Spurs’ towering star player Victor Wembanyama, that echoed through the midtown skyscraper canyons. At one point, they were joined by former Knicks guard Iman Shumpert, who strolled through the crowd wearing his No 21 jersey as supporters mobbed him.

Some scenes turned feral as supporters scaled street signs and traffic signals while shirtless women crowd surfed overhead.

Some violence also erupted. The New York police department said on Thursday that across multiple locations, a total of 56 people were taken into custody, of whom 15 were arrested and 41 were released with criminal court summonses in incidents relating to the game. NYPD also said that 10 officers were injured.

As the Spurs returned to their hotel after the game, videos posted to social media showed Knicks fans hurling objects toward Wembanyama outside the entrance, prompting the 7ft 5in Frenchman to duck and hurry inside.

Players and fans celebrate after Game 4 in Madison Square Garden. Photograph: Frank Franklin II/AP

The morning after, riders on the city’s packed subway trains could be overheard discussing key moments of the game – the mistakes, the Knicks’ defense and, of course, Anunoby’s winning put-back.

“The city feels alive,” one passenger said to a friend. “Knicks in five,” another responded.

In the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood not far uptown from Madison Square Garden, Jaynee Byrd, 31, who grew up in Queens and now lives in Brooklyn, paused to share that she felt hopeful that the Knicks would win the next game and secure the team’s first NBA championship in more than half a century.

“We got this,” she said. “We got one more game, that’s it, and we’re done.”

Byrd, wearing a shirt in the team’s signature orange-and-blue, said she too watched the game at home.

“Knicks in five!” she exclaimed.