Monica McNutt reflects on the decades-long wait for a Knicks championship

By — William Brangham William Brangham By — Karina Cuevas Karina Cuevas Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/monica-mcnutt-reflects-on-the-decades-long-wait-for-a-knicks-championship Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio The city that never sleeps finally saw its dream come true when the New York Knicks won their first NBA title since 1973. Thousands of fans across the five boroughs celebrated wildly after the Knicks pulled off this upset win in the final seconds. William Brangham discussed the historic moment and thrilling series with Monica McNutt, a basketball analyst for ESPN and the MSG Network. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. William Brangham: The city that never sleeps finally saw its dream come true this weekend, when the New York Knicks won their first NBA title since 1973, vanquishing the San Antonio Spurs in five games. If you were in New York City on Saturday, you heard it. (Cheering) William Brangham: Thousands of fans on the streets across the country celebrating wildly after the Knicks pulled off this improbable upset in the final seconds. (Cheering) William Brangham: For more on this historic moment and thrilling series, we are joined by Monica McNutt. She was there for game five. She covers the Knicks and is a basketball analyst for ESPN and the MSG Network. Monica, thank you so much for being here. Fifty-three years for Knicks fans of droughts and disappointments. I mean, they had been in the Finals three times. The most recently, I think it was '99, where they lost to the Spurs. So this is particularly sweet. What makes this win so significant this time around? Monica McNutt, ESPN: Well, William, I think you started with it. How many people have had the opportunity to now witness two victories for this New York Knicks organization? Fifty-three years, while it is young in spirit, if you were born in '73, right, it is a long time to wait to see your team return back to the mountaintop. And I think that earnest desire to see this team be successful, combined with the fact that New York City, without question, William, is such a basketball town. It is the sport that truly unifies the city. Yes, there's another team in another part of town, but they weren't originally here. And so most New Yorkers take a lot of pride in the orange and blue. And so I think, when you look at the time that it has taken to return and what this team means to the fabric of the city, it was just a moment of -- serendipity is the word that comes to mind. Destiny may be a better word. And so you could hear and feel the enthusiasm. It was palpable. William Brangham: It was palpable. I want to play a tiny little bit of video of you watching the last seconds of this game unfold. That look on your face is so wonderful and beautiful. I mean, you're a pro. You kept it t