Knicks celebrate their NBA Cup title, even though they aren’t commemorating it with a banner

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks celebrated their NBA Cup championship Friday night, even though they aren’t commemorating it with a banner at Madison Square Garden.

As players lined the court before the playing of the national anthem ahead of their game against Philadelphia, highlights from the Knicks’ victories during their march to the championship played on the overhead scoreboard. After the final one, from their victory over San Antonio in the final on Tuesday, the public address announcer asked fans to join in congratulating the team for its achievement.

Fans responded with a standing ovation.

The Knicks broke with the Cup’s brief tradition by deciding not to hang a banner after winning it. The two previous winners, the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, both celebrated their titles with a banner.

Prime Video, which streamed the game, poked fun at the decision by unveiling a banner in its studio for the Knicks’ championship during its pregame show.

Winning the Cup, with the semifinals and finals in Las Vegas, created somewhat of an extra road trip for the Knicks. The game Friday was their first at Madison Square Garden since beating Orlando on Dec. 7.

It also created some panic for first-year coach Mike Brown. A few inches of snow fell in the area north of New York City where he lives while the Knicks were away, and he didn’t own a shovel and didn’t know how to remove it when his sister-in-law, who was staying at the house, alerted him.

“We had snow in our driveway and our walkway and my sister-in-law called us and she was panicked, because I’m an Amazon junkie and so we’re getting the Amazon packages delivered. She was like, ‘Somebody’s going to slip. I need a shovel,’” Brown said. “I was like, ‘Shovel? Oh my god, who do I call?’”

He ended up calling their builder, who sent someone to remove the snow.

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