With less than two seconds remaining in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, OG Anunoby rose above a crowd and tipped in a go-ahead bucket that put the New York Knicks one win from a championship. The Knicks followed with a Game 5 victory to secure their first NBA title in more than 50 years.
One fan, Joshua Johns, marked the moment by getting a tattoo in Brooklyn on Thursday, just over two months after the club clinched the championship. Johns said he first saved a photo of ESPN’s win-probability graph showing the dramatic turnaround and later used it as the basis for the forearm ink, according to ESPN.
Born in Ithaca and raised partly in Georgia, Johns said he adopted New York sports fandom early but deepened his connection to the Knicks after moving back to the city following college. He joked “Shoutout Ron Baker” while recalling rougher stretches for the franchise — including a 68-125 record across the guard’s two-and-a-half seasons — and credited the team’s recent run with changing that view, according to ESPN.
Johns has a personal tradition of getting tattoos when a favorite team wins a title. He already sports a Georgia Bulldog tattoo on his right leg commemorating the 2021 and 2022 national championships and said he has a Yankees design in mind for whenever New York adds another World Series banner, according to ESPN. His sister-in-law Meghan suggested the more visible forearm placement, and a Knicks group chat encouraged him to get the work done.
Johns described a tense Game 4 in which he paced his apartment with his wife and packed for a 6 a.m. flight the next morning, but said the memory remains special even if he does not always flaunt the ink. He added that the tattoo will serve as a permanent reminder of a very special summer and a particular game, according to ESPN.
