{"id":764030,"date":"2026-06-18T08:06:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/764030\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:06:51","slug":"brunson-and-hart-throw-out-first-pitches-at-yankee-stadium-as-knicks-celebrate-nba-title-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/764030\/","title":{"rendered":"Brunson and Hart throw out first pitches at Yankee Stadium as Knicks celebrate NBA title"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The New York Knicks\u2019 victory tour following their first NBA championship since 1973<\/a> made another stop Wednesday night when Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart threw out ceremonial first pitches<\/a> at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

Before the Yankees played the Chicago White Sox, Brunson and Hart were met with a standing ovation and loud cheers from fans as they took the field to a montage of highlights from the title run.<\/a><\/p>\n

Standing in front of the mound and wearing Yankees pinstripes, Brunson made his toss to backup catcher J.C. Escarra while Hart threw to utilityman Max Schuemann.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was cool,” outfielder Cody Bellinger said after New York’s 10-5<\/a> victory. “Obviously, we\u2019re all super tuned-in to the series and to the postseason. I saw them pregame and what they were able to accomplish is pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunson and Hart were honored after the Knicks made appearances on NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Today Show\u201d and \u201cLate Night with Jimmy Fallon\u201d on Monday. Brunson and Hart along with starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby also appeared on ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n

The ceremony occurred a day before the Knicks will be honored with a massive ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan. Mayor Zohran Mamdani predicted Thursday\u2019s celebration could be \u201cthe largest parade in New York City history.”<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I think\u2019s it been awesome,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cWhat a fun team to get behind and just the story of that team and how it\u2019s kind of come together over the last couple of years and just a lot of grit, a lot of mental fortitude and to see the fanbase and then some galvanized around that club has been a lot of fun to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parade will be the first for the Knicks,<\/a> who won their first two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973. After those titles, then-Mayor John Lindsay celebrated the team at the mayoral mansion and City Hall.<\/p>\n

Brunson threw out a first pitch for the second time since joining the Knicks. He also did it before a Mets-Yankees game in July 2024 shortly after signing a four-year, $156.5 million contract<\/a> to stay with the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Brunson averaged 32.6 points<\/a> in New York\u2019s five-game victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals and won MVP honors. He led the Knicks to a 94-90 victory<\/a> in the clinching Game 5 by scoring 45 points.<\/p>\n

Hart is a great-nephew of former Yankees catcher Elston Howard, whose No. 32 jersey is retired by the team. Howard is also honored with a plaque in Monument Park.<\/p>\n

The Knicks finished 16-3 in the postseason, an .842 winning percentage that matched the 2024 Boston Celtics for second-best since the format changed to best-of-seven series in all NBA playoff rounds beginning in 2003. The 2017 Golden State Warriors went 16-1.<\/p>\n

New York won 13 consecutive postseason games, second to Golden State’s 15 in a row in 2017, and set records by winning nine straight road games and outscoring their postseason opponents by 283 points.<\/p>\n

Brunson and the Knicks also pulled off several big comebacks on the way to their title. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been a captivating run that they\u2019ve been on and with a group that\u2019s now been together for a couple of years and then on top of the 53 years since a championship, it\u2019s been a great story and a fan base that has come to know several of these guys as they\u2019ve kind of climbed that ladder to ultimately winning a championship,\u201d Boone said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019ll be one of the historic teams that we talk about when it comes to the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The New York Knicks\u2019 victory tour following their first NBA championship since 1973 made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6082,7,6,446,1220,11,66],"class_list":["post-764030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-playoffs","tag-baseball","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nba-finals","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116770088150488373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}