Knicks start their championship celebration by hanging an NBA Cup banner they previously refused

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks are having a banner night — two of them — on Tuesday.

Before raising their championship banner ahead of their season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, the NBA champions hung one at Madison Square Garden to celebrate the NBA Cup title they won last season.

The Knicks broke with tradition last December when they became the first team to win the in-season tournament and then not commemorate it with a banner . They said at the time they were looking ahead to bigger things.

They ended up getting the biggest thing possible by beating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 1973.

The Knicks also defeated the Spurs in the NBA Cup final. The NBA Cup banner went up sometime after the Sixers held their morning shootaround at the arena.

“I haven’t seen it, but I think it’s just a recognition of what our journey was like last year, you know?” coach Mike Brown said. “There were a lot of, obviously, ups and downs throughout the course of the year, and our guys rallied and figured out a way to win the NBA Cup, and then you go ahead and win the regular season final, or excuse me, the end of season final, and it’s just a recognition to not just to our guys, but to the fans out there.”

The NBA Cup banner was the first hung at Madison Square Garden by the Knicks since they won the Atlantic Division title in 2012-13.

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