A few hours ahead of the NBA Finals Game 4, Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on social media that the watch party outside Madison Square Garden has been canceled.

“MSG requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 fans. We approved that permit for 999 fans,” Mamdani wrote. “Mr. [James] Dolan has now decided to cancel the watch party.”

The watch party had been scheduled to be held on Plaza 33.

Mamdani’s post came after Knicks owner James Dolan said in an interview on WFAN that no tickets had been issued for the watch party and no screens had been put up.

There had been a back and forth over the last two days between the city and MSG over the watch party and about added security measures around the Garden.

The Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation issued a statement on the security measures for Game 4 on Tuesday, saying in part: "These celebrations are part of the heart and soul of New Yorkers. The actions of the Mayor and Police Commissioner, supposedly in support of the Knicks and their fans, are difficult to understand. We urge them to lift these restrictions and embrace the love of the team.”

The mayor put in his social media post that MSG “requested a permit for a watch party for 500-999 fans” and that the permit was approved for 999 fans, echoing similar comments made by the NYPD about the watch party.

However, MSG put out a statement Wednesday afternoon calling the mayor’s granting of a watch party permit “disingenuous at best,” taking issues with the capacity limit and the need for a ticket. The statement added that added security measures around the Garden would “turn the streets of MSG into a police state.”

The statement also goes on to say that issues outside a watch party at Bryant Park for Game 3 – where more than 20 people were taken into police custody – “are not related to blocks around MSG nor any other previously run MSG watch party.”

The Knicks have sanctioned other watch parties at Wollman Rink in Central Park and at the Brooklyn Bowl.