Trump booed at Madison Square Garden as Spurs beat Knicks in Game 3

Booing filled Madison Square Garden before the first basket and stayed with Donald Trump when he appeared on the jumbotron during the national anthem. The president, the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game, turned a championship night into a political flashpoint, while security tied to his visit left ticket-holders waiting two hours or more to get inside. Outside, signs reading “Nobody wants you here” and “Trump must go” made clear the mood extended well beyond the arena.

Inside, the game carried the weight of a rare basketball moment and a New York civic event. The Knicks had entered Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead after winning both games in San Antonio, and they were chasing their first NBA title since 1973. It was also the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999, which drew a familiar cross-section of New York celebrity and power, including Zohran Mamdani, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Timothée Chalamet, Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni.

The Spurs quieted the building with a 115-111 victory that cut New York’s lead to 2-1 and ended the Knicks’ 13-game playoff winning streak, the second-longest in NBA history. Victor Wembanyama matched Jalen Brunson with 32 points, while Stephon Castle added 23 and supplied the late 3-pointer and free throws that swung the finish to San Antonio’s side. For the Knicks, the loss was the first of the series and the first crack in a run that had looked historic through the opening two games.

The defeat also changed the meaning of the series itself. New York had become only the third team to win the first two games of an NBA Finals on the road, a milestone that had put the Knicks in the same company as the 1993 Chicago Bulls and the 1995 Houston Rockets, both eventual champions. By the end of the night, the arena had moved from boos to tension to hope and then to disappointment, with Trump’s presence leaving the game to carry the politics as much as the points.