The New York Knicks have a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals heading into a home game in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, but that isn’t stopping Knicks team owner James Dolan from publicly feuding with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The feud between Dolan and Mamdani stems from a watch party that was previously planned outside of Madison Square Garden but has since been canceled. Both sides have since blamed the other for the party’s cancellation with Dolan going as far as to suggest that Mamdani is “not a Knick fan.”
Watch Party Canceled
Through the first two games of the series, the Knicks hosted a watch party outside of Madison Square Garden. While the party attracted thousands of fans each night of the first two games of the NBA Finals, only a small number of those fans could actually see the relatively small television screens that were showing the game. Everyone else in the area was simply part of the atmosphere, with many even attempting to stream the game on their phones.
This watch party did not continue on Monday night when United States President Donald Trump attended the game in Madison Square Garden, but it was scheduled to continue on Wednesday evening. This time, however, the New York City Police Department announced that it would only allow 1,000 ticketed guests into the MSG area after MSG requested a permit for 1,000 fans for the watch party.
It is worth noting that the NYPD specifically indicated that fans would be allowed to be in the area if they are attending a restaurant or bar in the area, but they would not be permitted to congregate the same way that they were for Games 1 and 2.
This seemingly came as a surprise to Dolan and MSG, who expected the city to continue to allow thousands of fans to congregate around the arena even though there was nowhere for them to actually see the game.
“The last several victories the Knicks have had have been celebrated by thousands and thousands outside MSG.
The joy and happiness were palpable everywhere. Apparently Mayor Mamdani and Police Commissioner Tisch, despite what they say, don’t want to see these celebrations,” MSG Sports wrote in a statement.
MSG ultimately decided to cancel the event altogether rather than limit the watch party to just the
Dolan Criticizes Mamdani
Following the decision to cancel the watch party, Dolan spoke to Craig Carton, where he expressed his displeasure with Mamdani and the city for the decision to restrict fan access to the area.
Dolan admitted that only about 1,000 fans could realistically see the screen for the watch parties that they had set up, but he still believed that the city should have allowed the fans to congregate in the area even if they could not watch the game, saying that Mamdani and the city “don’t want the celebration.”
“This is not really about a watch party,” Dolan said. “We put up two fairly decent-sized screen [on the side of the arena]. I don’t know if you can get much more than 1,000 or so people that can see the screen.”
“This is about celebrating the Knicks at MSG, 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 went on to claim that the city did not have confidence in the NYPD’s ability to control the crowd in the area before declaring that Mamdani and NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch were “not a Knicks fan.”
“I don’t think they have faith in their own police force,” he said. “The mayor’s office, and the commissioner too, do not have the experience to do this.”
“They’re not Knicks fans. He’s not a Knick fan,” Dolan said.
Mamdani Responds
Following Dolan’s explosive interview, Mamdani responded by saying that Dolan’s decision to cancel the watch party outside of MSG was “breaking hearts across our city,”
“MSG requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 fans. We approved that permit for 999 fans. Mr. Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party. I know this is breaking hearts across our city,” Mamdani wrote in a post on X.
That said, Mamdani made it clear that he expects the city to celebrate regardless.
“But if there’s one thing Knicks fans don’t need permission for, it’s showing up for our team wherever we may be — no matter the block or the borough,” he wrote. “Knicks in five.”
Despite all the distractions, Wednesday night’s Game 3 will tip off at 8:30 p.m.