NYPD bans spontaneous gatherings outside MSG ahead of Game 4 - ESPN

NEW YORK — Throughout the Knicks' playoff run, thousands of deliriously happy fans have flooded the streets outside Madison Square Garden, often invoking a two-word rallying cry: «We outside.»

But as the team hosts its first NBA Finals games in 27 years, the city is restricting spontaneous gatherings outside the famed arena.

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and the police department have cited a range of reasons for the ban, including President Donald Trump's attendance at Monday's Game 3.

Ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday, the NYPD announced it would again prevent fans from gathering around MSG, unless they were going to the game or had «business specific to that area.»

Instead, the city said it had approved a permit to allow 1,000 fans access to a watch party outside the Garden — a scaled-down version of previous viewing parties, which the NYPD had sought to have canceled for rowdiness before later reversing course.

Otherwise, fans needed an «authorized reason» to be inside a security perimeter that stretches for several blocks around the arena. While bars and restaurants could stay open, they were subject to «strict capacity limits,» police said.

Hours before the game Wednesday, Knicks owner James Dolan said he was canceling the watch party because of the city's onerous security restrictions.

A statement released by the Madison Square Garden Co. accused Mamdani of transforming the streets around the arena into a «police state» to «freeze out fans from celebrating.»

Dolan, in an interview on New York's WFAN, took aim at city leadership.

«I don't think they have faith in their own police force,» he said. «The mayor's office, and the [police] commissioner (Jessica Tisch), too, do not have the experience. They have never