Unattended party at Madison Square Garden with President Donald Trump attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals

NEW YORK (AP) — Police scuttled an NBA Finals watch party near Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks warned fans to get to Monday’s game at least two hours early as part of heightened security measures with President Donald Trump’s presence at the game.

Trump is a longtime Knicks fan who confirmed Friday that he will attend the first NBA Finals game in New York since 1999. He has already attended a number of major sporting events during his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and the Ryder Cup.

Part of the fallout from Trump’s visit was the cancellation of a Game 3 watch party outside of MSG. The New York Police Department said in a statement Sunday that the decision was made in coordination with the Secret Service.

“There will be no watch party outside of Madison Square Garden for Game 3 only,” the statement said. “This was done entirely in coordination with the Secret Service due to the presidential visit. We expect watch parties at Madison Square Garden to resume for Game 4.”

Such parties, where thousands of fans gather to watch the game on the big screen, are a point of contention for the city’s police, even without the complication of a presidential visit.

More than two dozen people were arrested as Friday’s vigil spilled into the streets surrounding the Garden following the Knicks’ victory over the Spurs in San Antonio. A woman has been accused of punching a police officer in the face, New York police said.

Leading up to the NBA Finals, the city had decided to completely cancel watch parties outside the arena due to rowdy behavior at unofficial gatherings, but then reversed itself and granted a pass for the first game last Wednesday.

Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service New York field office, said he understands that with the Knicks on a historic run, there will be some disappointment from fans.

“At the same time, our responsibility is to ensure the highest level of public safety,” he said. “After careful coordination and evaluation, the Secret Service and the New York Police Department jointly determined that outdoor stakeouts could not be staged in the immediate vicinity of Madison Square Garden due to the security requirements associated with an event of this magnitude and the need to maintain a secure environment for protective operations.”

Team-sanctioned watch parties will be held at Wollman Rink in Central Park and at the Brooklyn Bowl, the Knicks website said. Both events required prior registration and were already sold out on Sunday afternoon.

Strict rules have been put in place for those attending the match. The Knicks warned fans to bring as little as possible to Game 3 and encouraged them to arrive at least two hours before tipoff as part of enhanced security measures.

The Knicks said Saturday that a strict no-bag policy will be in place and that there will be “TSA-style screening procedures” for fans when they enter Madison Square Garden for the game scheduled to start just after 8:40 p.m. EDT.

The Knicks said there would be no storage at MSG for prohibited items brought to the arena. A list of them is available at https://www.secretservice.gov/prohibiteditems.

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Associated Press writers Michael Sisak and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

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