Happy Thursday in New York City, where, three more nights like last night, and this city may just burn to the ground.
As many of you already know, the New York Knicks eked out a tight win in San Antonio last night to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals. If they hadn’t already done so earlier, the Knicks have officially entered a stratosphere of basketball achievement so great it casts its shadow on all of us — fan or no.
This city is starved for winning basketball. As I wrote a little over a year ago, when Knicks fans were losing their minds just to get to the finals of the Eastern Conference, let alone the NBA Finals: “So, what’s the big deal? The answer is 25 years of heartbreak. The winner of this series will advance to the NBA finals, a place the Knicks haven’t been since 1999. This is the first time they’ve reached the semifinals since 2000, when they lost to (you guessed it) the Indiana Pacers. The last time the Knicks actually won the championship? 1973.”
Fifty-plus years of dashed hopes in a city experiencing one of the most prolonged droughts of sports success in any major American market will make for some desperate fans. And when desperate sports fans get a taste of the long-awaited promised land, the result is bedlam. Just ask Philadelphia.
Last night saw similar scenes of jubilation in the streets of New York City. Just hours before the game, the city removed its ban on watch parties outside Madison Square Garden. Thousands of blue-and-orange-bedecked supporters crowded together in the streets outside the arena — a tidal wave of emotion rising and falling with every make or miss.
When it was over, the exultant crowd stormed 7th Avenue with screaming, cheering and lots of dancing (including this robot). Seven people were taken into custody.
Game 2 is scheduled for tomorrow in San Antonio, before the series shifts to New York on Monday. If you want to join the fanfare, you might consider selling your kidney for a ticket to the game. Or join the tens of thousands of New Yorkers watching in bars and on street corners throughout the five boroughs.
The city’s plan to convert Grand Army Plaza into a car-free area earned enthusiasm from cyclists and park-goers at an online meeting on Tuesday — but drew concern from drivers and some neighborhood residents.
The CREATOR Act, which Rep. Yvette Clarke (Central Brooklyn) co-introduced in Congress, would protect artists from AI-generated imitations of their work.
A new Whole Foods store is set to open on Smith Street, right at on the edge of Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill. There is no official timeline for the opening yet.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced that East Williamsburg will receive $20 million to revitalize its downtown.
Security cameras captured three separate instances where groups of people entered NYC sewers at night. Residents and investigators continue to be baffled by the incidents.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP
LITHUANIA — Without doubt, these must be the cleanest municipal pigeons in the world: Pigeons perch over Pilies Street in Vilnius Old Town, Lithuania, Thursday, June 4, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
A lot of ‘recycled’ plastic is being burned overseas and causing widespread pollution linked to health problems
A scavenger collects recyclable items including plastic from a dump site in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Photo: K.M. Chaudary/AP
Picture a pile of trash the size of Manhattan and taller than one and a half Empire State Buildings. That’s how much plastic waste the world is predicted to be generating every year by 2050 if nothing is done to change course.
It’s easy to think of recycling as the solution, but the vast majority of plastic waste now ends up in landfills, or worse.
A large amount of plastic waste gets shipped overseas. In a new study, my colleague and I analyzed what happens when plastic waste is shipped to lower- and middle-income countries, where open burning is a common way of dealing with excess waste. The result is pronounced increases in toxic air pollution.
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The Mini
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Steve Sack
For the Road
Happy Birthday to Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie!
On this day in 1922, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in explanation of his performance at the magicians’ dinner Friday, sent the following letter to Harry Houdini.”
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