The watch party outside Madison Square Garden for Game 4 of the NBA Finals was canceled hours before tipoff after owner James Dolan blamed city officials for requiring additional security — and said Mayor Zohran Mamdani was inexperienced and not a real Knicks fan.
“This is about celebrating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, at the Mecca of basketball. This is what the mayor’s office and the commissioner’s office is trying to kill, they don’t want the celebration,” Dolan told Craig Carton on WFAN, noting the Garden won’t be putting up screens for the game.
“I can’t tell you why they don’t want the celebration. I’m not sure they know why they don’t want the celebration, but they clearly don’t want it,” he said.
Dolan, who owns the Knicks and the New York Rangers, said he didn’t think Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch “have faith in their own police force.”
“Honestly, the mayor’s office and I’m sorry, the commissioner too — do not have the experience to do this,” he said.
Knicks fans in Bryant Park watch a tense ending to game 3 off the NBA finals, June 8, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter
The talk radio interview escalates a war between Dolan and city officials, which increased Tuesday night after the Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. released a statement calling them “party poopers” for heightened security.
Commissioner Tisch said at a press conference Monday that the security perimeters set up for President Donald Trump’s Game 3 visit on Monday would remain up for Game 4 — but it still took Dolan by surprise.
He claimed that it had been the NYPD’s call — not the president’s team — to add airport-style security screenings.
“The Secret Service didn’t demand this stuff, it was NYPD and it was really the commissioner’s office,” Dolan said. “This was the commissioner’s plan all around. She just used the president coming as an excuse to set it up.”
The NYPD, on the contrary, said it established Monday’s traffic-snarling security perimeter “jointly with the Secret Service.”
MSG’s permit for Wednesday’s canceled party was only for between 500 and 999 fans, and the city granted them the space for the highest number requested. Dolan said on the radio that he didn’t think more than 1,000 fans could see the screens Garden management would have set up to watch the game.
And although Trump was roundly booed when he appeared on screens inside MSG on Monday, Dolan praised him, saying he’s a Knicks fan and a “great guy.”
“Having him there was a great honor,” he told the show’s hosts.
Mayor Mamdani posted on social media to note that the canceled watch party was not his call.
“Mr. Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party. I know this is breaking hearts across our city,” he said. “Knicks in five.”
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