New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani showed up to the Knicks championship parade on Thursday morning looking like he had been waiting his whole life for this moment. And in a way, he probably had.
The mayor delivered a speech that made it clear he actually follows the team. He didn’t just read talking points off a card. He went deep into Knicks history, referencing moments that only real fans remember. And he made sure to take a shot at Michael Jordan while he was at it.
The dunk that still gets talked about
Mamdani brought up the Knicks’ 1993 playoff run and specifically mentioned John Starks’ infamous baseline dunk during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The mayor claimed Jordan was on the receiving end of that dunk, which is technically true if you squint and ignore a few details.
The actual play went down like this: Starks threw down a poster dunk on Horace Grant. Jordan came over as help defense but ended up getting screened out by Grant. He wasn’t really next to Starks when the dunk happened. NBA fans still argue about whether it counts as a dunk on Jordan. The mayor decided it does. Good enough for a parade speech, probably.
The Knicks took a 2-0 lead in that series against the Bulls. Then they lost four of the next five games. Chicago went on to win its third straight championship. The Bulls were basically a wall the Knicks kept running into during the 90s every time they had a real shot.
Other old wounds mentioned
Mamdani didn’t stop there. He also brought up Patrick Ewing’s dunk in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. That Knicks team reached the Finals but ran into the Houston Rockets and lost. Different opponent, same result.
But this year was different. The drought that started in 1973 is finally over. That’s 53 years of waiting, and the mayor used his moment at the podium to remind everyone why it took so long. Someone in his speechwriting team clearly knows ball.
The crowd seemed to eat it up. A video posted by journalist Aaron Rupar showed Mamdani rattling off these moments with the kind of energy you only get from someone who actually lived through the pain. Or at least studied it really well.
The Knicks finally have their parade. And the mayor made sure everyone remembered the ghosts that made this win mean something.
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