Multiple people were taken into custody as Knicks fans brawled in the street and piled on top of police cars Monday night outside the Bryant Park watch party, where 5,000 fans gathered to see the game on a big screen.
Neither exact arrest numbers nor specific charges were immediately clear early Tuesday.
The viewing party inside the park, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani had announced earlier in the day, with the Madison Square Garden party called off, was mainly calm. People were excited but controlled, video showed.
Just outside, video shows post-game Knicks fans getting more than rowdy, police say, climbing an NYPD barricade truck and throwing items while chanting profanity. They hung from scaffolds.
The situation devolved into an all-out brawl. There were ripped shirts and torn-down street signs as the baton-armed NYPD moved in and pepper-sprayed the crowd, witnesses said.
It wasn’t clear if the chaos would factor into any plans for city-sanctioned watch parties for Wednesday’s Game 4, also at home. The one outside Madison Square Garden is expected to return after being called off for the president’s visit at Game 3.
The Knicks lost to the Spurs in Game 3 at MSG Monday night, bringing their series lead to 2-1. They next play Wednesday at home. More watch parties are likely to be announced later on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
News 4’s Charles Watson reports from Madison Square Garden