The United States is engaging in “basketball diplomacy” to encourage the United Nations to operate with a little more teamwork. Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s UN envoy, invited his fellow diplomats from the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday night to watch the New York Knicks play basketball.

The outing was a first trip to New York’s famous Madison Square Garden arena for several of the dignataries, including Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General. “The great thing about basketball, like all sports, is that it engages commitment and passion,” said Sir John Sawers, Britain’s UN representative. “Diplomacy engages all those things, but the stakes are not so high in sports so you can sit back and enjoy yourself.”

Sir John, who has spent years negotiating with an intransigent Iran over its nuclear programme, did come away with one important lesson, however. “There are no slam-dunks in diplomacy,” he said.

By inviting his fellow Security Council envoys to a Knicks game, Mr Khalilzad was continuing a tradition started by his predecessor, John Bolton. But the Knicks, New York’s home team, suffer from something of a Security Council jinx. On all three occasions that diplomats have attended a game, the Knicks have lost.

This time team-owner James Dolan promised the diplomats season tickets if his side won. But the Knicks crashed to a 108-82 defeat by the Golden State Warriors for their seventh straight loss. Mr Ban, the UN chief, said diplomatically: “I’m sorry that the New York Knicks lost. They’ve been playing poorly, very poorly, and [I’m] disappointed.” He added: “Sports does not have any boundaries. I think sports really helps people overcome all differences of opinion.”

Several six-footers among the diplomatic corps, including Sir John, Mr Khalilzad and Slovakia’s Peter Burian, played basketball at school themselves.

Indonesia’s Marty Natalegawa, the current Security Council president, said that he had been a Knicks fan since a previous diplomatic stint in New York a decade ago. “I even have a cat named Knicks,” he confessed.

There is one other lesson that diplomats might learn from the Knicks. Kristen Silverberg, the US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organisations, told member states recently that they should blame themselves for their failures rather than “the UN”.

Quoting a former US Ambassador to the UN, she said: “Blaming the United Nations for what happens inside the talk palaces on the East River is like blaming Madison Square Garden for a poor showing by the New York Knicks.”

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