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'The Garden Was Dead': Knicks Fans Sound Off on Wemby, Trump, Muted MSG Crowd at Game 3 of NBA Finals

At Walter's Bar just down the block from Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers talked about Wembanyama with reverence and the stuffy vibe inside the arena with confusion and disappointment.
Tom Petrini|
New York fans commiserate at Walter's Bar a few blocks from Madison Square Garden after the Knicks fell to the Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
New York fans commiserate at Walter's Bar a few blocks from Madison Square Garden after the Knicks fell to the Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. | Tom Petrini

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San Antonio SpursNew York Knicks

NEW YORK -- In midtown Manhattan on Monday night, in a building full of blue and orange, a constant din of New York noise did not cease and often rose to a roar.

The fanatical appreciation for Knicks basketball permeated every part of the place. You could tell these were the die hards, the people who have waited for this moment at Madison Square Garden for a minimum of 27 years.

Some of those fine, rowdy people had even made it up the block, through security, and inside the Mecca for a truly historic Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It wasn't nearly enough of them to make the World's Most Famous Arena noticeably louder than Walter's Bar was at 3 a.m. as a few dozen true-blue Knicks fans there commiserated about the series-shifting loss over darts and Knick-themed drinks.

I sat in the back corner to write this story as one of the only people not decked out in Knicks merch, and before too long a group of folks who were approached and asked if they could sit with me at the emptiest table in the place. The friends were having a good night, as good a night as possible considering they'd just spent a lot of money to see their favorite team lose their biggest game since before Y2K.

As I welcomed them to sit I explained my occupation as a Spurs writer in the interest of full disclosure, and my background as a native New Yorker to score some points. I asked if it was alright if I asked them a few questions about their experience at the game. Like everyone else at Walter's, they were happy to talk loud enough to hear every word clearly despite the Dire Straits blasting in the foreground.

When I asked them what they thought of the crowd at what should have been the loudest game of this millennium, their faces dropped, their eyes widened, their heads shook. They couldn't believe how quiet it was.

Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Ben Stiller and Timothee Chalamet look on in the fourth quarter between the Knicks and the Spurs.
Jun 8, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Ben Stiller and Timothee Chalamet look on in the fourth quarter between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs during game three of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

"I thought the Garden was dead," said one man who was wearing the t-shirt from the game. We'll call him Joey.

As much as Joey loves his Knicks, he was so sure that they were going to lose Game 2 in San Antonio that he bet against his own team at an amount that could have covered a ticket to the wildly-expensive Game 3. He lost his bet, and bought the ticket anyway.

Like most of the people who attended Game 3, Joey is doing well enough to afford a ticket to one of the most exclusive and expensive events in the history of one of the most expensive cities in the world. Unlike most of the people he shared the Garden with, he stood for the entire fourth quarter of an incredibly entertaining, incredibly high-stakes game. He acknowledged that the exorbitant prices kept some of the most genuine and passionate fanatics out of the historic building.

Josh Hart, the gritty, beating heart of the Garden, spoke about the prohibitive price in the lead up.

"Kind of wish the ticket prices weren't as crazy as they are," the Knicks' ultimate glue guy said. "I feel like a lot of people who have been waiting for this moment for a very long time unfortunately aren't able to get into the building, when the cheapest ticket is $7,000 or $8,000. So that's ridiculous. It's going to be rocking, but obviously I wish those were a little cheaper."

Joey expressed his disappointment with many who filled the seats, and his dismay that they didn't join him in an attempt to make the building shake.

"If you're paying all this money to be at the game, how are you gonna be sitting?" he asked, exasperated and incredulous. "It's not the first round, it's not the Conference Finals, it's the Finals, man!"

Most expected Madison Square Garden to be the most hostile and insane environment of this wild run the Spurs are on. It didn't come close.

Minnesota got loud as can be as they hosted San Antonio in the semifinal round. They heeded the call from their dearly departed native son Prince to get crazy, get nuts, living and dying with every basket until the Spurs dominated Game 6 so hard that Ant Edwards dapped up the whole visiting team with eight minutes left in the game and the season.

At all four games in Oklahoma City, the fans stood and clapped and cheered for the whole entire time, from the classic double-overtime duel in Game 1 right up until Game 7 got out of reach late, the raucous noise giving way to stunned silence. OKC prides itself on the Paycom Center's extra-rowdy crowd, and the Spurs noted that they couldn't even hear themselves yelling as they tried to call out switches on defense.

Knicks fans brought obnoxiously-loud energy the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio for Games 1 and 2 of the Finals, and that's meant as a sincere compliment. The back and forth between Spurs fans trying to defend home court against invaders from the north ensured that there was never a dull moment, always someone yelling about something.

As much as Spurs fans in the arena and at home hated that dynamic, it provided an appropriate energetic and auditory setting for two incredible NBA Finals games. When New York won them both, it set off an avalanche of cacophonous braggadocio from millions of fans who found many creative ways to scream some variation of "Knicks in Four."

The New York Knicks fans celebrate after the Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs in game two of the 2026 NBA Finals.
Jun 5, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; The New York Knicks fans celebrate after the Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs in game two of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Every Knicks fan knows that this team hasn't won a title since 1973, and they're well versed in almost every possible version of gut-wrenching failure since. They have built-in defense mechanisms to avoid breaking their own hearts, sometimes passed down from parents to their children. There's a skepticism that borders on fatalism, and when basketball dreams die it's an easy pivot into caring about the Yankees or the Mets, or the nice weather and any of the million other things there are to do in New York in the summertime.

But when the Knicks won 13 games in a row, including two on the road to take a 2-0 series lead before the first Finals game at the Garden since 1999, even the most experienced and battle-hardened fans can get a little carried away. Who could blame them?

Rapper Fat Joe hugged Walt 'Clyde' Frazier in the tunnels of the Frost Bank Center after Game 2, near tears of joy. Clyde, who led the last Knicks team to win the title in 1973 and has experienced every disappointment since up close and personal, told Yahoo's Dan Devine that he felt a sweep coming, even called it destiny. A team that can win 13 in a row and two on the road to start the Finals can certainly win on their home floor.

But in Game 3, when the jumbotron hanging from that iconic MSG ceiling showed the two most universally-beloved Knicks in Clyde and Patrick Ewing, the Garden crowd reacted as if they'd just seen a PSA about washing your hands after using the bathroom. When the Spurs show Tim Duncan or David Robinson on the big screen, it elicits a collective cheer that's probably big enough to register on nearby earthquake detection systems.

Ewing and Frazier were among many stars in attendance who tried to get a rise out of the crowd. Cardi B made a surprise performance at halftime, at the end of which she yelled at New York City to make some noise while using a modifier that got her microphone disconnected. New York City's response to the request didn't match her energy at all.

At the start of the fourth quarter, with the hometown Knicks trailing 92-91 in an epic battle, the arena played a video of Pitch Perfect actor Skylar Astin starting a "Let's Go Knicks" chant, or at least attempting to.

At that crucial, electric moment of the game, the chant didn't make it from the speakers to the stands. It never even started. It stood in sharp contrast with the same chant that sparked up organically behind enemy lines in San Antonio, first by one or two of the loudest New Yorkers who made the trip and then aggressively boosted by the rest of them, like a flock of seagulls swarming to steal your french fries at the beach.

As the fourth quarter progressed, the Spurs went on a run that took the crowd out of it even further. It was a five point game with six minutes left, but from my vantage point between the 1973 championship banner and Ewings retired number 33, I was shocked to see a majority of the fans sitting down in the seats they paid so much for. At a moment that should have been so loud I couldn't hear myself think, I instead heard a single fan in the lower bowl scream at his compatriots, "STAND THE F*** UP!"

It might have been Joey, who could not believe that he had to say that. The crowd only really made noise when the home team made a big play, and it only truly popped when they strung a few of those big plays together. The Spurs deserve a good bit of credit for doing everything in their power to prevent the Knicks from getting New York into it.

"We got to try to come out, and obviously easier said than done, but try to take the crowd out of it as quickly as possible," De'Aaron Fox said in the lead up. "I think even like our Game 7, we never really let the crowd get into the game. Obviously, easier said than done. But just trying to negate some of their runs. You know you're going to come in here, it's going to be loud... I don't want to use the word 'hostile,' but it's going to be hostile."

That was the expectation, anyway. In reality, the first time my watch warned me about the decibel level was late in the second quarter as the Knicks rallied to take their first lead of the game. In Oklahoma City, that warning came 20 minutes before tipoff. The Spurs punched first and knocked the energy down early, and for the most part prevented the Knicks from going on any sort of run strong enough to really get the crowd back into it.

At the Garden on Monday night, the second and final decibel warning came when New York made a late, dangerous comeback push. It had a chance to be one of the most epic moments ever at this historic arena which boasts so many, but plenty of fans would have missed it since they had already abandoned their high-priced seats to try to beat the foot traffic.

As fans filed out of the building looking for someone to pin the defeat on, many settled on the President of the United States.

"We lost because of TRUMP," one disappointed fan yelled on the concourse. He was not alone in that feeling.

Back at Walter's, several patrons pointed the finger at the man whose decesion to attend the game made the process of getting in a lot more difficult for everyone else. The Secret Service established a perimeter around the Garden and searched everyone who entered like they were about to board a flight. The lines stretched for a block or more and lasted over an hour for most fans who had some of their energy stolen by the sun and the standing and the inconvenience of it all.

Fans wait to enter the stadium before game three of the 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs
Jun 8, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Fans wait to enter the stadium before game three of the 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke about Trump's attendance as an example that sports bring people with different viewpoints together, but the presence of one of the most divisive presidents in American history certainly brought a weird energy and a dark cloud into what should have been a joyous occasion. It was like if the uncle who almost everyone in your family has a problem with showed up at a wedding and made everything tense.

"Whether you like him or not, he screwed up our day and he screwed up the vibe," said one woman wearing a Mitchell Robinson jersey, we'll call her Monica. She stood outside for almost an hour and a half trying to get into the arena, a process that usually takes 15 minutes. Many New Yorkers greeted the President with hearty boos during the national anthem as he was shown on the big screen.

"It felt like nobody wanted him there," she said.

Even with the logistical nightmare that accompanied Trump's visit, fans without tickets packed into Walter's Bar all night as they have for every game of this incredible Knicks run, home and away. I asked the barkeep how it felt inside, and he said that it was wall-to-wall and fun but the energy was a little less consistent than Games 1 and 2, which brought pure tension and electricity throughout.

Tony Ferber happens to own the place, and when the Knicks are good it's good for his business. In a land of tourist traps, his small, no-frills dive bar a stone's throw from the Garden serves up cold beer for the locals. He has friends and regulars asking him if he hopes the series goes to seven games so he can continue to capitalize on the extra foot traffic.

"Hell no, I wanted Knicks in four," he said with a smile and a shake of the head, fandom overriding fiduciary instinct. "Money is money, I can make that any day of the week. I just want them to win one, finally."

Knicks fans who felt invincible 24 hours earlier now feel a familiar sense of impending doom as the Spurs have not only made a series out of it, but wrestled back all the momentum.

Victor Wembanyama played his best game of the Finals as he attacked the basket relentlessly to the tune of 32 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Late in the second quarter, one of the only times an organic chant erupted from the crowd was when New York united their voices to yell "F*** YOU WEMBY" at the 22-year-old superstar, who gave some love to his haters.

"At home it really feels like playing six against five. Here it feels like five against six," Wembanyama said with a grin. " It really shows what teams are made of."

Asked if hearing that chant from the crowd at the Garden is the ultimate compliment, he pondered his role as a villain in Gotham.

"I guess," he said with a smile and a laugh. "I'm nowhere near Trae Young level, though."

Joey was at the F*** Trae Young series, and said the crowd was much louder and more intense back then. In this city it's Knicks against the world, and the only thing these fans love more than hating an entertaining heel is witnessing true basketball greatness. A majority of New Yorkers from Ben Stiller and Spike Lee to the last row of the Mecca, from Harlem to Tribeca, wanted to see Wemby and the Spurs over the Thunder. They thought San Antonio might be a bit more beatable, but they knew that Wembanyama is a box office superstar.

Monica, originally from Philadelphia, married into Knicks fandom. Her husband, we'll call him Chandler, has blue and orange blood running through his veins, a trait inherited from his beloved mother. He already has their tickets for Game 6 if necessary, and is thinking about coming down to San Antonio for Game 5. He and his mom have felt the full pain of every Knicks heartbreak together for his whole life. He wants this so badly, for himself, and for her, and for the city.

But as he processed the pain of this most recent loss over some suds with friends and a stranger from Texas, he couldn't help but heap praise on the visitor from another planet who he believes could one day be the greatest of all time, especially if he pulls this off. Some Spurs fans saw a video of Wembanyama sketching a statue in Gramercy Park and worried he was distracted. This Knicks fan in a Ewing jersey knew it was the exact opposite.

"When I saw him drawing in the park, I knew he was gonna be stupidly locked in," said Chandler, who now views Game 4 as a must-win opportunity for his Knicks. "I think he's incredible, on and off the court, he's just so cool and so mature."

In the spirit of mutual respect, I told Chandler how much I've grown to appreciate Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson over this run. He reminds me of my childhood sports hero growing up in New York: Derek Jeter, who was in attendance and on the big screen at the Garden on Monday. Jeter was never the best player in the league, but he had an incredible ability to meet the moment and make it spectacular. He had aura many years before the term became common in sporting parlance.

"Brunson IS NEW YORK, just like Jeter was," Chandler said, somewhere between shouting and crying.

His voice broke a bit as he came to terms with the one gigantic thing that separates the two, the thing that matters most to sports fans of all stripes in New York.

"Hope has been brought back to the city. We've revitalized that word," Karl-Anthony Towns said before Game 3. "But the word 'success' hasn't been seen in this city for a long time. So we have to continue to fight to bring that word back to fruition."

"I love Jalen so much, but he hasn't won yet," Chandler said as he gazed out toward 8th Avenue. "You have to WIN HERE MAN!"

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Tom Petrini
TOM PETRINI

Tom Petrini has covered Spurs basketball for the last decade, first for Project Spurs and then for KENS 5 in San Antonio. After leaving the newsroom he co-founded the Silver and Black Coffee Hour, a weekly podcast where he catches up on Spurs news with friends Aaron Blackerby and Zach Montana. Tom lives in Austin with his partner Jess and their dogs Dottie and Guppy. His other interests include motorsports and making a nice marinara sauce.

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