Trump gets cold hometown welcome at NBA Finals in New York

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - June 09, 2026 07:22 am IST - NEW YORK U.S. President Donald Trump attends Game 3 of the NBA playoffs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on U.S., June 8, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters Donald Trump was booed loudly by fans inside Madison Square Garden when he was shown on video screens during the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday (June 8, 2026) night. Mr. Trump was shown for several seconds giving a military salute. The boos ended when the U.S. flag followed him on the screens, and fans cheered when New York Knicks players were shown. Mentions of the San Antonio Spurs also elicited loud boos. Mr. Trump is watching from Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite, along with granddaughter Ms. Kai, personal adviser Boris Epshteyn and Cabinet Secretaries Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy and Doug Burgum. He is the first sitting President to attend an NBA Finals game. Mr. Trump’s Marine One helicopter flew from his home in New Jersey and landed near Wall Street before his motorcade made its way up through Manhattan and to the arena roughly an hour before tipoff. He encountered a handful of people making rude gestures, and outside the area, one group held signs saying “Trump must go.” He settled into Mr. Dolan's suite shortly afterward. During the afternoon before Mr. Trump's arrival, the New York Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service set up a large perimeter surrounding Madison Square Garden. Fans lined up to get inside the arena more than four hours before tipoff, in a scene more closely resembling New Year’s Eve in Times Square than the usual leadup to a basketball game. They were required to provide a ticket or pass to get past various checkpoints, along with going through a Transportation Security Administration-style magnetometer. Secret Service personnel and police were positioned at every corner and in large numbers. Daily commuters, tourists visiting Manhattan and fans were all confounded at various times as they tried to maneuver the security. After traveling from his new home in Florida for the game, Knicks fan Greg Weldon said the main inconvenience faced so far has been the lack of information. “We’ve asked so many cops, secret service, guys with machine guns, what to do, where should we go,” he said. “Nobody knows.” Knicks coach Mike Brown and Spurs counterpart Mitch Johnson downplayed any concept of being inconvenienced by the closures and enhanced security because of Mr. Trump. “There’s a lot going on, and I’d much rather be a part of it than not,” Johnson said. With security stepped up, a watch party outside was canceled, and ticket-holders were not allowed to bring bags inside the Garden. Fans had gathered near the arena to watch games during this playoff run, during which the Knicks have won 13 games in a row to reach the final for the first time since 1999 and move two victories from their first NBA title since 1973. “We are looking forward to bringing back watch parties for Game 4,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Monday (June 8, 2026). "But I think New Yorkers are used to presidents coming to town, and they understand that that generally means lockdowns of areas and that’s what you’re going to see tonight at the Garden.” This is the latest major sporting event Mr. Trump has attended during his time as President, and the security measures have created major hassles for fans. Thousands of fans missed the start of last year’s U.S. Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner because of lengthy security lines. Even though the U.S. Tennis Association pushed back the start of the match by a half-hour, many fans still couldn’t get in because added measures meant that they had to go through screening not only when they arrived at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but again in front of the steps into Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Trump watched from a suite. Federal law enforcement officials have been reexamining Mr. Trump’s security in light of three incidents in the past two years: a shooting at a 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania; the d

Trump gets cold hometown welcome at NBA Finals in New York

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Trump gets cold hometown welcome at NBA Finals in New York

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