The New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years on Saturday night, with exuberant celebrations marred by mayhem and violence, including gunshots in Times Square.
Celebrations Turn Violent
Outside Madison Square Garden, a crowd watching on a big screen roared as the Knicks rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat the Spurs in San Antonio in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. However, the celebrations soon turned violent, with rowdy fans clashing with police, smashing windshields, scaling scaffolding, light poles, and a statue, and climbing into and atop school buses in Times Square.
Around 2 a.m., gunshots were fired near 42nd Street and Broadway, police said. Bystander video captured the sound of at least seven shots and showed people crouching and running for cover. Preliminary reports indicated no one was injured, police said.
Knicks owner James Dolan urged fans to stay calm, saying, “We need to tell everybody in New York that we know that they’re celebrating, we want them to have a great time. Please be safe. Don’t get hurt, don’t hurt anybody.”
City to Celebrate with Parade
The city will officially celebrate the Knicks on Thursday with a parade and City Hall ceremony. As the clock ticked to the final buzzer on Saturday night, anxiety that had dominated the game’s first three quarters gave way to euphoria.
Fireworks boomed over Brooklyn and Central Park. Fans flocked to Times Square and ran through the streets. Outside the Garden, they sang the team’s anthem: “Go New York, Go New York, Go!”
Police officers and ambulance workers shouted “Let’s go Knicks” over loudspeakers in Brooklyn. Strangers shook hands and hugged. In the Lincoln Tunnel, where people were riding buses back from the World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, drivers honked their horns in celebration.
Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.
