NEW YORK – Noah Nguyen snapped at his mother, insisting that she remain in her bedroom. Then, as a precaution, he used his body to barricade the door.
“It was the last two minutes,” the Rockland County native said, referring to the waning moments of the Knicks’ June 13 game. “We couldn’t risk her jinxing it.”
The team was in the midst of a fourth-quarter comeback — which became their signature during a historic playoff run — and his mother went into her room when the rally began, so it was imperative she not leave.
And when the Knicks took the lead, and secured it during the final seconds, the tears began to flow within that household.
“He cried his eyes out,” Michael Nguyen said of his son. “We all did. That’s how much it meant to us.”
That dramatic 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs delivered to the Knicks, and its success-starved fanbase, the first NBA title since 1973.
It is, in part, why the championship parade along the Canyon of Heroes drew millions of fans to Lower Manhattan on June 17, flooding the streets between Battery Park and City Hall.
On most streets near and along the parade route, there was little room to exhale as just about every square inch was occupied.
“It’s really exciting because I know they haven’t won in a long time,” said Kiri Gomez, an 11-year-old from Stony Point who didn’t mind missing a day of school to accompany her parents there. “Everybody in my house was screaming and going crazy when they won.”
In a sea of No. 11 and No. 33 jerseys, paying tribute to NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson and Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, Nyack native Noah Goodman stood out with his No. 14. It was an Allonzo Trier jersey. The kind of ‘fit that makes non diehard fans say, “Who!?”
Trier had a nondescript two-year career in the NBA and was part of the Knicks’ 2018-19 team that won only 17 games.
“I have a Brunson jersey, but I chose not to wear it,” the 30-year-old said. “I want to let people know that I was supporting this team even when they were at their worst. No matter how bad it got, I still loved them. And that’s what makes this championship so great.”
But even during those lean years, Madison Square Garden still often sold out and the Knicks remained one of the most profitable teams in professional sports.
“That kind of passion and dedication to this franchise is why we deserve to have this moment,” said New City resident Derrick Jackson, who attended the parade with his 10-year-old daughter Brenn. “It feels like we’re finally getting rewarded.”
As he gazed at the massive crowd on State Street, pressed against the police barriers two hours before the procession even began, an officer remarked, “The only thing I can compare this to is Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
And even that event, broadcast around the world, only pulls about a million attendees each year.
The subway trains heading downtown were just as packed on Thursday morning, with so many of the commuters sporting jerseys, T-shirts and caps. In one car of a No. 4 train, from 42nd Street to the Bowling Green station, a horde of fans banged rhythmically on the ceiling while chanting “Jalen Brunson,” honoring the the Knicks star point guard who was named finals MVP.
There were fans in Katonah riding bicycles in Brunson jerseys at 4 a.m.
“You’ll never see a group of people come together like this in your life,” said Mark Machado of South Salem.
Since the Knicks had last won it all, several New York teams captured championships and had parades, including the Yankees winning five World Series, the Giants with four Super Bowls, along with the Mets, Rangers and Liberty.
But, the police officer continued, the Knicks are the only team major New York sports team without in an in-city rival.
Michael Nguyen, as a 52-year-old, lamented having been born just after the glory years. And, Noah, who was swaddled as a newborn in a blanket with Knicks insignia and had a basketball-themed cake for his first birthday, said he was “born into the suffering.”
The 25-year-old echoed the sentiments of many of the young fans who, before a week ago, had known only disappointment and despondence when it came to the Knicks. The age group that missed the golden era by several decades and even the two runs to the finals in the 1990s that ended in heartbreak.
Likewise for people like his dad, who were born in the mid 1970s and only knew of the Knicks’ triumphs from grainy highlight reels and stories from their parents.
For all of them, there was a bit of catharsis in what was an all-time great playoff run that culminated in that clinching Game 5 win over the Spurs.
“It kind of feels like there’s some symmetry for me, because the first game my dad ever took me to was Spurs versus Knicks when I was 11,” said Jeremy Gonzalez, a 37-year-old from Yonkers. “As a kid, I watched the Spurs beat us in the finals (in 1999). Now, to have it come around full circle, it feels special. Like it was meant to be.”
Gonzalez traveled to Manhattan with his wife and their 1-year-old, Joel, hoping to get a glimpse of the Knicks and bask a bit more in the long-awaited feeling of satisfaction.
“He doesn’t know how lucky he is,” Gonzalez said, looking at his infant son. “He won’t have to wait his whole life to say he was around when the Knicks won.”
Stephen Haynes covers sports for The Journal News/lohud. George Caratzas is a sports intern for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Knicks fans, families cherish NBA championship win at NYC parade
Reporting by Stephen Haynes and George Caratzas, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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By Stephen Haynes and George Caratzas, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
