resident Donald Trump was hailed with a chorus of boos on Monday night while attending Game 3 of the NBA finals to watch his hometown New York Knicks face off against the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2014the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game\u2014went as the guest of Knicks owner James Dolan, a long-time friend of the President who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Knicks ended up losing to the Spurs 115-111 in the third game of the best-of-seven series, which the Knicks lead by two games to one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s planned attendance drew vocal backlash even before he set foot in Madison Square Garden on Monday. The President, already widely unpopular in the blue city, sparked further outrage from Knicks fans when the increased security necessitated by his presence led to a highly anticipated watch party previously set to take place outside the arena being canceled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Knicks meanwhile warned fans attending the game to expect \u201cenhanced security measures\u201d for the roughly 20,000-person arena, telling them to arrive \u201cat least\u201d two hours ahead of the game and to limit what they brought with them to \u201can absolute minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s attendance on Monday drew criticism from Democratic New York lawmakers as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKnicks fans just want to enjoy Game 3,\u201d House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Monday, sporting a Knicks cap. \u201cIt\u2019s not clear to me that Donald Trump is a big Knicks fan \u2026 He\u2019s just injecting himself into the NBA finals because he always has to bring the MAGA circus into town, and that\u2019s unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on an Instagram story Sunday that Trump\u2019s attendance \u201calready has been a vibe killer, because now the city has to shut down all the MSG watch parties that happen outside of the arena.\u201d She called the watch parties outside of the Garden \u201cthe source of so much fun for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSports are at the forefront of American culture, and President Trump loves them as the people\u2019s president,\u201d White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told TIME in a statement ahead of the game. \u201cAs a lifelong fan, President Trump looks forward to watching the Knicks compete to bring home their first NBA championship in more than 50 years at Madison Square Garden tonight. U.S. Secret Service and NYPD\u2019s important efforts will ensure this historic game is safe for all attendees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mamdani announced earlier Monday that a watch party would be held at Bryant Park in lieu of the scuttled event outside of the Garden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mayor made the decision \u201cafter the U.S. Secret Service and the NYPD determined that a watch party could not be held outside Madison Square Garden due to the heightened security requirements associated with President Trump\u2019s attendance,\u201d his office\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additional city-mandated watch parties were held at Central Park\u2019s Wollman Rink and Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference on Monday that watch parties would resume outside of the Garden for Game 4 on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese watch parties have become a celebration of New York City itself,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cFrom every borough and every neighborhood, this city has come together to cheer on the Knicks and share in a moment that belongs to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thousands of Knicks fans have turned out to celebrate the team making the finals and to gather to watch the previous two games in the series, both of which were hosted in San Antonio\u2014and both of which the Knicks won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A viewing party held at Madison Square Garden during Game 2 on Friday became rowdy in the wake of the team\u2019s victory, leading to more than a dozen arrests. Among those arrested was a woman who allegedly punched a police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mamdani called the assault on the officer \u201cunacceptable\u201d in a social media\u00a0post\u00a0at the time. \u201cNew Yorkers are rightfully excited about the Knicks’ historic Finals run, and we want fans to celebrate this moment together. There is, however, no place for violence, and no tolerance for attacks on police officers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the Knicks win the series against the Spurs, it will mark their first NBA championship since 1973\u2014more than half a century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tickets for the finals games in New York have been some of the most expensive in sports history, with some courtside seats being auctioned off by the Knicks for as much as $1,000,000, according to\u00a0Business Insider.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about the high ticket prices not being affordable for every-day Americans, Trump\u00a0said\u00a0\u201cthat\u2019s the way life goes\u201d and that \u201cit\u2019s sort of semi-free to watch it on television.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Players on both teams were asked about Trump\u2019s attendance ahead of Game 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spurs guard De\u2019Aaron Fox said that \u201cthe President being here just makes it inconvenient on everyone else,\u201d noting the extra steps and security his team has to go through due to Trump\u2019s visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Knicks\u2019 OG Anunoby said, \u201cI think he\u2019ll just be there watching. We\u2019re going to go as usual, play our game. Try to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not Trump\u2019s first visit to a major sports match as a sitting President. Since returning to the White House last year, he has attended several high-profile events, including the Super Bowl in February, the FIFA Club World Cup Final last July, and the U.S. Open in September, in addition to professional matches in wrestling, racing, golf, and football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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resident Donald Trump was hailed with a chorus of boos on Monday night while attending Game 3 of the NBA finals to watch his hometown New York Knicks face off against the San Antonio Spurs. Trump\u2014the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game\u2014went as the guest of Knicks owner James Dolan, a long-time friend of the President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415059"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415076,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415059\/revisions\/415076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}