{"id":1980719,"date":"2026-06-09T15:31:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1980719"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:31:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:31:01","slug":"donald-trump-james-dolan-tried-to-ruin-nba-finals-vibe-the-knicks-loss-killed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1980719","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump, James Dolan tried to ruin NBA Finals vibe. The Knicks\u2019 loss killed it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 What could have been the best night in a New York Knicks fan\u2019s life instead felt like a massive middle finger. From Jimmy, with love.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, James Dolan, the billionaire ruling over the city\u2019s favorite team, walked through the event level floor Monday night inside Madison Square Garden. He wore a pastel orange suit jacket that might\u2019ve looked expensive, but couldn\u2019t have cost as much as what most people paid for the opportunity to sit near the rafters. Then, Dolan made his way to the bulletproof box set up beneath the Lexus Suite Level. There, he sat next to his friend and fellow New Yorker, President Donald Trump, who was booed lustily by these constituents<\/a> of Gotham.<\/p>\n

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Dolan had to have known how the price of admission \u2014 one couple interviewed spent the actual cost of a used luxury car \u2014 would be a financial burden for the people who love this team. He should\u2019ve understood that inviting such an unpopular president would hijack attention away from the real focus of the night, and unnecessarily complicate logistics for the league. Still, Dolan didn\u2019t care. Not about his fans, nor his players. Dolan saw this night, this big New York moment, and strangled the fun out of it. Whatever joy was left after fans trickled in through the police-state setup outside the building reached its expiration date when the Garden witnessed the Knicks lose 115-111 to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The vibe \u2014 placed in a headlock, dragged out back, judo-hip tossed by Trump and beaten to an inch of its life \u2014 is gone. All thanks to Dolan.<\/p>\n

Dolan can\u2019t help himself. He\u2019s thrown out fans who had the misfortune of rooting for a franchise owned by him; in 2019, he banned someone for telling him to \u201csell the team.\u201d He turned the arena into Big Brother\u2019s playground with all the facial recognition technology. In 2024, he made MSG go full MAGA when he allowed Trump to host a rally, where an insulting joke aimed at Puerto Rico became the headline.<\/p>\n

This time, Dolan used an NBA Finals game hosted in Manhattan, the first one in a generation, to remind fans why it\u2019s easy to love the team but not the boss.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Victor<\/p>\n
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\n Victor Wembanyama achieves New York sports villain status with dominant Game 3\n <\/div>\n
\n Wembanyama’s performance in Game 3 stunned the Knicks home crowd and vaulted him into lofty company among New York sports opponents.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Before the game, I climbed to the top of the Garden to meet the people who spent the money and braved the long lines. Jake Borden, 28, and Destiny Krause, 27, started their journey from the Jersey Shore a few minutes before 3 p.m. on Monday for the 8:30 tipoff. They were the first two people in their section, having dropped $11,000 each on upper balcony seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love the Knicks,\u201d Borden said, explaining his rationale. Even so, he felt the inflation was absurd.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOh, way too expensive. I mean, there\u2019s a lot of fans out there, and it should be more accessible,\u201d Borden said. \u201cWalking by some fans (saying), \u2018We couldn\u2019t get tickets,\u2019 and they really deserve to be here. There\u2019s a lot of people who don\u2019t even care about the Knicks who might be here, you know, big suits. It should be for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"President<\/p>\n
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\n President Trump roundly booed by New York crowd at NBA Finals Game 3 at MSG\n <\/div>\n
\n Trump, a native New Yorker, was booed louder than the Spurs ahead of Monday’s NBA Finals Game 3. The Spurs went on to win the game, 115-111.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

It would be hard to describe Trump as such a \u201cfan.\u201d Though he attended Knicks games in the \u201990s, these days, Trump seems more into hosting caged fights in his backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe orange man should not be here,\u201d said a man named Steve C., who\u00a0asked if he could only give the first initial of his last name because he thought surveillance around the arena might eavesdrop on our conversation. Steve C. was half joking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be this game! Pick another f\u2014ing game! It ain\u2019t about you,\u201d Steve C. told me, as he stood up to allow another fan to pass through and get to his seat up in the heavens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree,\u201d the man chimed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a photo op. It\u2019s a bad PR spot. This is not a crowd that\u2019s going to support him,\u201d Steve predicted accurately. \u201cThat\u2019s fine. You can pick your sides, that\u2019s politics. Even if it was a crowd that supports him, they\u2019d be so miserable for being outside \u2026 But to inconvenience people. Why this game? Why now?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steve had to wait outside and ask NYPD officers where to stand \u2014 though I heard from many fans that the police couldn\u2019t offer up much assistance with directions. Still, he was in a rapturous mood, even after flying in the day of the game from his home in Houston. He planned to spend 15 hours on the ground in New York, his original hometown, and after the game, head back to LaGuardia Airport, where he\u2019d sleep uncomfortably on a concourse seat not made for sleeping, just so he could catch a 6 a.m. flight to get back in time to let the babysitter leave Tuesday morning. He paid $3,000 for his game ticket.<\/p>\n

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Mike G. of Long Island, another fan who asked to only share the initial of his first name due to his job, came with his brother, and together they paid $4,250 a pop to sit on the catwalk inside the arena. Patrick Berry, a 66-year-old native from Harlem who now lives in Maryland, said his family surprised him with a ticket for Section 116, row 19, seat 18. His wife, daughter and niece pitched in for the $11,396 ticket. Isaac Dapkins, a doctor who was in middle school the last time the Knicks made the Finals, sat with his 13-year-old son Liam in what\u2019s called the 400-level upper balcony \u201cblue seats.\u201d Dapkins came straight from work, so he draped his suit and business shirt over the back of Liam\u2019s chair. Dapkins covered Liam\u2019s ears when he told me how he paid roughly $7,000 for the seats. A Homeland Security officer walked past the father and son before he shared this.<\/p>\n

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These fans all shared similar experiences of paying way too much money and going through TSA checkpoints just to get inside the arena.<\/a> Before the game, however, they couldn\u2019t imagine being anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely worth it,\u201d Mike G. said of the money he spent. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to be four or five, but the Knicks are gonna do it. And being at the Garden, can\u2019t put a price tag on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of the game, that\u2019s when the feel-good, no worries vibes shifted. I watched Mike G. and his suffering. There\u2019s no angst like the angst on the catwalk. Mike G. didn\u2019t sit in that swivel chair provided to patrons; instead, he stood and slurped on cups of ice. When Stephon Castle went to the free-throw line in the final seconds of a two-point game, Mike G. waved his arms back and forth and yelled \u201cAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh<\/em>!\u201d Castle made the free throws anyway. After the buzzer, Mike G. slammed his plastic cup of water on a trash bin.<\/p>\n

I felt bad for him, and wondered if the couple from Jersey Shore now regretted the $22,000 credit card debt for two tickets in the nosebleeds. I hoped Steve C. made it back to the babysitter on time, and thought about what 13-year-old Liam might tell his young children one day about this night.<\/p>\n

Even an hour after the game, chants of \u201cF\u2014 Donald Trump!\u201d filled the night air from a crowd lingering outside the Moynihan Train Hall with the cameras rolling. It was vulgar, coming from a group of folks who wanted to go viral. However, nothing was as crass as Dolan\u2019s decision Monday night. His was the biggest \u2018Eff You\u2019 to the people of New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 What could have been the best night in a New York Knicks fan\u2019s life instead felt like a massive middle finger. From Jimmy, with love. Ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, James Dolan, the billionaire ruling over the city\u2019s favorite team, walked through the event level floor Monday night inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1980719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1980719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1980719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1980719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1980719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}