President Trump reportedly plans to skip Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden after getting roundly booed by Knicks fans before Monday night’s deflating Game 3 loss.
The president has “scheduling conflicts and obligations” that will prevent him from attending the game on Wednesday as the Knicks seek to extend their 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven game series against the San Antonio Spurs, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
Trump brushed off the boo birds who serenaded him with Bronx cheers when he was shown on video screens during the singing of the National Anthem as he became the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.
“It was, I think, mostly cheers,” he told reporters after the game before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic.”
Trump also appeared to doze off at times as he sat in a luxury sky box alongside Knicks owner James Dolan and several cabinet officials and political allies.
The announcement that Trump won’t be making a return appearance on Wednesday will be greeted by sighs of relief from Knicks fans who had to wait in hours-long security checkpoint lines to get inside the arena.
A planned watch party outside MSG also was scrapped over security concerns related to Trump’s attendance.
It’s not yet known if the fan fest will be back for Game 4, although officials were hopeful they can give the green light.
“We are looking forward to bringing back watch parties for Game 4,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Monday, before Trump’s arrival.
The Knicks had won 13 straight playoff games and were only the third team in NBA history to win the first two games of a Finals series on the road.
But with Trump in the house, they faltered in the second half and lost 115-111.
Besides the president, Mayor Mamdani, Spike Lee and a raft of A-list celebrities were also at the game, as were Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning of the Giants.
With the Knicks’ last championship coming in 1973, long before Mamdani was born, title-starved fans bid up the price of tickets to never-before-seen levels. The get-in price for a ticket soared to more than $5,000, higher than the average monthly rent in New York.
After Game 4, the series will shift back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday. Then it will return for Game 6 on Tuesday at MSG, if the Knicks haven’t wrapped things up by then.
Some critics of Trump blamed his appearance for undermining the unity of fans at the Garden and contributing to the loss.
“Trump curse,” tweeted a dejected Rep. Dan Goldman (D-New York) as he trudged out after the loss.
Even before the game, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith had predicted Trump would disrupt the energy at the Garden. He said the loss vindicated his claim.
“The president disrupted our mojo,” Smith said Tuesday on his show. “I’ve said this on many occasions over the last 24 hours and I am saying it again: The man messed things up.”
Trump countered by lashing out at Smith as “low IQ.”