A night that began as a citywide celebration of the New York Knicks turned chaotic outside Madison Square Garden, where police ended up taking dozens of people into custody. The team's comeback win had left the Knicks one victory away from their first championship since 1973, and fans poured into the streets to mark the moment. By the early hours, however, the festivities around the arena had given way to disorder.
Police laid out the scale of the response in numbers. Officers say 56 people were taken into custody, and that 15 of them are now under arrest. The figures pointed to how quickly the mood outside the Garden shifted from joy to something authorities felt they had to bring under control.
The crowds were large. According to police, the gathering grew to close to 10,000 people flooding the streets outside Madison Square Garden. That sheer density of people in a tight stretch of Manhattan helped turn an exuberant celebration into a situation that was difficult to manage.
As the night went on, the celebration in places turned to destruction. Video showed fans smashing a taxi window, while another person struck a car with a bell as the crowd chanted about the Knicks. Some people set off rounds of fireworks in the middle of the street, adding to the sense that the scene had slipped out of control.
The disorder came at a cost to those policing it. The reckless behaviour left 10 officers hurt, with one of them struck in the head with a glass bottle. The injuries underscored the risks that came with trying to keep order amid such a large and energised crowd.
To regain control, police escalated their response. Officers brought in horses to push the crowds back and clear the streets around the arena. The mounted units became the tool authorities used to break up the densest parts of the gathering and restore a measure of calm.
The crush in the street was tied in part to the absence of an official place to gather. The Knicks owner, James Dolan, had canceled the planned watch party outside the arena, saying it would not be large enough, even though similar parties for earlier games in the series had drawn thousands of fans. The city said it had approved a watch party for up to 1,000 people, the maximum that was requested, and the two sides ended up trading blame over the decision.
In the aftermath, Mayor Zohran Mamdani signalled an openness to a different approach. In an interview, the mayor said he understood why fans wanted to celebrate outside Madison Square Garden, and left the door open to larger watch parties in the future, while stressing that any such gathering would have to be done safely. He called the violence unacceptable and said he was fully confident in the NYPD, even as he described the celebration itself as an incredible moment for the city.
By the following afternoon, the area around Madison Square Garden looked calm again, a contrast to the overnight scenes. The chaos sat awkwardly alongside the genuine excitement over the Knicks, who remain one win from a title with the series heading to San Antonio. For the city, the night captured both the depth of the celebration and the disorder that a small part of it produced.