Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
After a 13-game winning streak, the New York Knicks lost 115-111 to the San Antonio Spurs Monday night at Madison Square Garden. The game, which was the third round of the best-of-seven NBA finals, drew in a wide assortment of celebrity attendees, from Timothée Chalamet to Cardi B to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and — to the displeasure of booing crowds — President Donald Trump. The loss cuts the team’s NBA finals lead down to 2-1, but for many fans, the euphoric vibes had already been quashed by the news that Trump would be in attendance, a big to-do that led to mass security, a canceled watch party over safety concerns, and more than hour-long waits to get in the stadium. As Cardi B, who also performed at halftime, put it on Instagram Live last night, the vibes “felt kind of dark.”
As she savored a postgame SpongeBob SquarePants popsicle, the rapper told her fans how proud she was of the team and what a blast she had. When a fan asked her if Trump’s presence was bad luck, Cardi said, “It probably was.” There’s no stopping a president from attending a basketball game, but it “did feel a little dark in there,” she went on, noting that the added security “was making us do mad circles.” She shared her personal highlights from the game — seeing how tall Wemby is in person (“He really look like a giraffe”) and her 4-year-old son, Wave, having such a good time cheering that he never once asked to look at a cell phone. Nevertheless, “It felt like the principal was there and everybody had to be on like, their best behaviors and shit like that.”
The Knicks go up against the Spurs again on Wednesday night, and Cardi B has some ideas about how to dispel the dark energy before they play again. “I think before the game, all Knicks fans should get on my Live, and we should pray all together. I think we should do a prayer circle for the Knicks to win,” she said. Count us in.
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