The 2017 NBA finals are underway. Game 1 of this highly anticipated matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers was played on Thursday night, and it was a game that was never really close as the Warriors won it in blowout fashion 113-91. Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry dominated the Cavaliers in front of a sellout crowd of more than 19,000 fans at Oracle Arena. Amongst those 19,000 fans was one familiar and famous face - Rihanna. Rihanna is known to be a big basketball and especially, LeBron James fan, as she was sitting in the first row, supporting James and the Cavaliers.
Many say that she is LeBron's biggest fan girl and on Thursday night she once again showed why.
Rihanna steals the show
With the game well out of reach for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter, Rihanna stood up from her seat and bowed to LeBron. She then proceeded to dab at the Golden State fans behind her. No doubt she was having fun while the Cavaliers were getting dismantled by the Warriors.
Dab on 'em, @rihanna pic.twitter.com/HQTVtdNSxz
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) 2. lipnja 2017.
Late in the third quarter, Rihanna apparentely yelled "Brick!" after Kevin Durant's free-throw attempt. Durant made the free throw of course, and on his way back to defense he stared her down. Wow! The 29-year old pop star stole the show on Thursday night at one point, but her Cavaliers ended up losing the game convincingly.
After the game was over, Rihanna was passing by the Cavaliers’ locker room and she was caught saying, "It doesn't matter, b****. The King is still the King.”
Rihanna: "it doesn't matter, bitch", as she passes Cavs locker room. pic.twitter.com/6DJDBL25Gj
— Tony Zarrella (@TonyZ19) 2. lipnja 2017.
Obviously, Rihanna isn't worried about the Game 1 loss for the Cavaliers, as she remembers well what happened in last year's finals.
The Cavaliers lost the first two games of the 2016 Finals by 48 points before coming back and winning the championship in Game 7. She also knows what LeBron is capable of, considering how big of a fan she is. Some would say she is even obsessed with LeBron.
A distraction for LeBron James?
James finished Game 1 with a stat line of 28 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists but he also had eight turnovers.
It wasn't one of his most efficient games in the Finals, and Rihanna's antics surely didn't help. Could this be an unnecessary distraction for LeBron and the Cavs? Maybe, but they can't blame Rihanna for their 20 turnovers in the game and their lack of focus on the defensive end.
Game 2 of this series is scheduled for Sunday night back at the Oracle Arena and if James and the Cavaliers want to tie this series up, they will definitely need more than Rihanna's trash talk.
