NEW YORK CITY — The NYPD took 56 people into custody after thousands of fans flooded the streets around Madison Square Garden early Thursday morning following the Knicks dramatic comeback to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
In total, fifteen people were arrested and 41 were released with criminal court summonses, police said.
Around 10,000 people took to the streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues north of Madison Square Garden.
According to police, the crowds shut down streets to vehicular traffic, jumped on top of moving trucks, taxis, and other vehicles.
In one case fans allegedly tried to physically flip over a taxi.
In addition, the crowd ignited fireworks on the streets, climbed on top of scaffolding, threw glass bottles at police officers who were responding to the scene and damaged four police squad cars.
In total, 10 police officers were injured, including one who was struck in the head with a glass bottle.
NYPD
“This is an exciting time for the Knicks and for fans across New York City. The NYPD wants New Yorkers to be able to enjoy these celebrations, but our primary responsibility is to ensure that everyone can do so safely. Once again, there were large crowds of people who engaged in incredibly reckless and dangerous behavior last night both during and after the game. This demonstrates exactly why the NYPD has increased our presence in and around Madison Square Garden," the department said in a statement.
The Knicks on Wednesday night completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and trailed by as much as 29 points in the first half.
New York now takes a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals and are one win away from an NBA Championship.
The planned watch party for Game 4 of the NBA Finals outside Madison Square Garden was cancelled hours before tip-off by team owner James Dolan.
Its unclear if there will be a watch party outside MSG for Game 5 on Saturday.