A Tenafly front lawn has turned into the hottest ticket in Bergen County this Halloween season, thanks to a life-sized skeleton recreation of the New York Knicks' championship-winning tip-in. Vladimir Biberica built the display to honor OG Anunoby's game-winning shot from the 2026 NBA Finals, and the response has been so overwhelming that local police have had to set up barriers just to manage the crowds showing up to see it.
The scene depicts the exact moment from Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, when the Knicks completed a 29-point comeback — the largest in NBA Finals history — capped by Anunoby's game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106, according to Wikipedia. As reported by the New York Post, Biberica decided on the Knicks tip-in as his Halloween theme if the team won it all, and he tried to recreate the players' positions and their distances from the hoop as accurately as possible.
That championship marked the Knicks' third franchise title and their first in 53 years, ending a title drought stretching back to 1973, per Wikipedia. The win is also why Anunoby has drawn praise well beyond Tenafly: Basketball Network reported that LeBron James called him the real MVP of the Finals, pointing to his series-high 16 three-pointers, key defensive blocks, and the decisive Game 4 putback.
Recreating the Exact Shot, Down to the Distances
The Post's reporting lays out the centerpiece of the display: a 12-foot skeleton standing in for Victor Wembanyama, dubbed “Wem-Bone-Yama,” towering over the scene just as the 7-foot-4 Spurs center did on the actual court. Complex reported that the display specifically positions figures to recreate Jalen Brunson shooting a three-pointer over Wembanyama while Anunoby swoops in for the putback, mirroring the exact sequence that sealed the title.
Biberica had a 12-foot skeleton sitting in his garage before he built this particular scene, according to the same Post account, and he rounded out the display with skeletal spectators portraying celebrity Knicks fans Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, and Taylor Swift. He told the paper he left Mariska Hargitay out of celebrity row simply because he didn't have a suitable wig for her.
A Yearly Tradition That Finally Broke Through
This isn't Biberica's first attempt at holiday spectacle. He decorates his front lawn every year with elaborate themed displays, having previously built scenes titled Spooky Night Fever, Dead Zeppelin, Barbie's Bone Yard, Star Wars: Return of the Dead-i, The Boos Cruise, and LeBone James, per the Post's reporting. But this year's Knicks tribute has pulled in far more attention than any of his earlier efforts, and Biberica said he was flabbergasted by how viral it became.
His home has turned into a genuine tourist attraction, with visitors making the trip specifically to see the display in person. Biberica told the outlet he wanted to make the neighborhood happy and have some fun, adding that a New York sports team winning is good for the whole area.
Police Step In as Visitors Flood the Block
The crowds got large enough that police set up barriers on the block near Biberica's home to manage traffic. Under Chapter 20 of Tenafly's municipal code, any traffic control measures or block closures on neighborhood streets require official town authorization and coordination between Public Works and police, a regulatory backdrop that explains why the response to one man's lawn decorations needed official sign-off.
The scramble for crowd control fits into a much larger national picture. Halloween decorating has become a genuine economic force, with the National Retail Federation projecting a record $13.5 billion in total U.S. Halloween spending for 2026, including $4.3 billion spent specifically on home and yard decorations. The same survey found that 78% of Halloween shoppers planned to buy decorations — outpacing spending participation on costumes or candy — with 42% of consumers planning to decorate their home or yard entirely.
Much of that decorating boom traces back to one object: Home Depot's giant 12-foot skeleton, nicknamed Skelly. First introduced in 2020 at $299, the prop became a viral sensation that routinely sold out nationwide within hours of release each season, according to Forbes. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Home Depot upgraded the skeleton line for 2026 to include app-controlled voice recording and voice modulation, giving backyard showmen like Biberica even more tools to work with.
Biberica's own roots in the area run deep. According to an obituary published by McCorry Brothers Funeral Home for Vladimir Biberica Jr., the family settled in Bergen County after his father immigrated from Croatia in 1953 to work as a master cabinetmaker — a long local history behind the lawn that's now drawing crowds from well outside Tenafly.
