Donald Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on Monday and was booed when a camera showed him on the arena screens during the national anthem, as the New York Knicks fell 115-111 and saw their series lead cut to 2-1.
The presence of a sitting president at the Finals — the first time a president has attended an NBA Finals game — turned the night into a security operation. Thousands of New York Police Department officers and hundreds of Secret Service officers were deployed, streets around Madison Square Garden were shut to foot and vehicle traffic, metal barriers were put up at each block and fans faced airport-style screening, with ticket holders queued for hours in lines that stretched more than two blocks.
The measures reverberated beyond the arena. O'Brien's Bar and Grill on 31st Street, inside the security perimeter, reported difficulty getting customers in because of the restrictions. Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation blasted the city's decision to maintain closures, calling the NYPD commissioner and the mayor the "biggest party poopers" and warning that, "The complete closing of areas around MSG is going to affect not only the celebration but also all the small businesses that rely on Garden fans for their livelihood."
Inside the Garden the tension was immediate and public. A camera panned to the president during the anthem and, while security and many in the crowd reacted with noise, boos broke out when his image appeared on the arena screens. After the game Trump told reporters, "It was, I think, mostly cheers. It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic." The exchange — a president saying he heard mostly cheers while audible booing occurred on the floor — became the defining clash of the evening.
On the court the game mattered on its own terms. The Knicks led the series before Monday and now trail 2-1 after the 115-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, handing the visiting team a critical road victory in a series framed as New York’s first Finals at Madison Square Garden since 1999. The scoreline compressed the margins for the Knicks and sharpened the stakes for the rest of the week.
The president attended the game with his granddaughter Kai Trump and Knicks owner James Dolan; members of the administration at the Garden included Sean Duffy, Doug Burgum, Lee Zeldin and Steve Witkoff. Outside the arena the president’s arrival had already altered plans: at least one outside watch party was canceled and many fans said the security arrangements were "killing the vibe of the Knicks."
The immediate practical question now is what repeats on Wednesday. The security perimeter for Game 4 will close all traffic from 29th to 35th Streets between 6th and 8th Avenues. The team said it would bring back its watch party outside the Garden. Trump is not expected to attend Game 4.
What remains unsettled is how many fans and small businesses were ultimately affected by Monday’s restrictions. Organizers and owners reported hours-long queues and lost customers, and with a wider perimeter planned for Game 4 the same disruptions are likely to recur. The series result is settled only on the scoreboard; for the neighborhood, the final tally of the economic and logistical damage from a presidential visit has yet to be counted.
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