Key Takeaways
- The New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals to secure their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
- Jalen Brunson earned Eastern Conference Finals MVP honors as New York closed the series with a dominant Game 4 win.
- Social media, including rappers, comedians, and public officials, flooded X with jokes about city pride, ticket prices, and a potential Knicks championship celebration.
The New York Knicks are headed back to the NBA Finals, and the internet wasted no time turning the moment into a citywide comedy show.
On Monday night (May 25), New York defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, completing a sweep and securing the franchise’s first Finals appearance since 1999. Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while OG Anunoby added 17 points. Jalen Brunson, who averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists across the series, was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
“It’s an honor to be here in this city and this organization,” Brunson said after receiving the MVP trophy, adding that he “wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Towns put the feeling in even clearer terms: “I feel like the word hope has been gone for a long while, so to restore that is special. There is nowhere better in the world than when [Madison Square] Garden has hope."
Naturally, X had plenty to say.
Angel Diaz captured the emotional side of the moment by saluting two stars from a previous era of Knicks hope. “Lastly, to my friends Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, rest now, brothers,” he wrote. “We have the watch, and we’ll see you in Valhalla.”
Rapper Cochise also leaned into the long-suffering. “I MIGHT CRY RIGHT NOW,” he posted. “I THOUGHT I WAS NEVER GON SEE THE KNICKS IN THE FINALS. Y'ALL WASN'T THERE WHEN OUR STARTERS WERE LITERAL FINANCIAL ADVISORS.”
Others treated the win as the official start of a historic New York summer. One user joked that the Knicks making the Finals, paired with JAY-Z’s upcoming Yankee Stadium run in July, could make this “the greatest summer in New York City history.” Another took it even further, writing, “NYC can’t handle a Knicks championship AND three JAY-Z concerts back to back. Manhattan would sink like Atlantis.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also got in on the moment. Tagging the city’s sanitation department, he wrote, “I’d like to report a sweep.” Fans ran with the political jokes, including one user who said Mamdani’s approval rating “might shoot to 95% if the Knicks win it all.”
The money jokes arrived quickly too. One user wrote, “One thing is most evident from the NYK playoff run… New York Knicks fans have more money than all other NBA fans.” Another predicted that if the Knicks win the championship, “nosebleed tickets” at Madison Square Garden could climb into the thousands.
Desus Nice summed up the expected city response with one of the funniest posts of the night: “lot of NYPD gonna retire to Florida after tonight.”
New York’s long wait makes the reaction even louder
The Knicks have not won an NBA championship since 1973, and their last Finals trip came 27 years ago. This year’s team closed out Cleveland with an 11-game playoff winning streak and one of the most dominant runs in recent franchise memory.
Now, New York awaits the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. No matter who comes next, Knicks fans have already made one thing clear: If this team finishes the job, the celebration may be louder than the games themselves.
Check out plenty of other responses to the sweep below.