New York police arrested 63 people during celebrations of the Knicks ending a 53-year wait for an NBA title, after large crowds around Madison Square Garden and elsewhere in Manhattan turned destructive. Ten officers were injured, one 17-year-old was shot and four other people were stabbed or slashed, according to police accounts.
The teenager was wounded several blocks north of Madison Square Garden and was driven to hospital in a police vehicle after crowding blocked an ambulance from reaching the scene. Officers recovered a gun and detained three people described as persons of interest. The supplied reports did not identify a suspect or establish what led to the shooting.
Police said an officer suffered a facial punch, while a glass bottle hit a second officer. Five police vehicles suffered serious damage as people smashed windscreens with bats or jumped on the cars. Fights, fireworks and people climbing street fixtures added to the disorder as tens of thousands gathered during and after the game.
Five school buses were burned or otherwise damaged. The vehicles had been assigned to transport football supporters from the city to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where Morocco and Brazil were playing in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup. The overlap placed Knicks crowds and visiting football fans in Manhattan on the same night.
The basketball celebrations followed New York's victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The decisive game was played in San Antonio, but bars, restaurants and official watch parties across New York had drawn fans together throughout the Knicks' playoff run. Many moved into the streets after the title was secured.
Charges stemming from the night included assaulting an officer, weapons possession and disorderly conduct. The figure of 63 represented arrests connected to the celebrations, not a final count of convictions, and individual cases would still have to proceed through the courts.
Officials also had to prepare for another mass gathering. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a victory parade for the following Thursday, and the team planned a procession through lower Manhattan’s Canyon of Heroes. The event was expected to attract a very large crowd, potentially numbering in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
The championship brought a long-awaited sporting milestone to the city, but the violence and property damage became an immediate public-safety concern. Police reporting tied the major injuries, arrests and damaged public vehicles to the post-game crowds while leaving the circumstances of several individual attacks under investigation. Police investigations continued.
