Rihanna stole the show Thursday during Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, California.
The 29-year-old singing superstar made a dramatic entrance at Oracle Arena, heckled Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant and also was seemingly stared down by the forward during the game.
Rihanna and her personal assistant Jennifer Rosales took their courtside seats with under three minutes left in the first quarter.
Lady in black: Rihanna cheered on the Cleveland Cavaliers and her favorite player LeBron James on Thursday during Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, California
The Diamonds singer arrived as the game was tied 24-24 after her favorite player LeBron James, 32, unleashed a furious dunk over Warriors player JaVale McGee.
ABC announcers were commenting on the dunk but color commentator Jeff Van Gundy, 55, admitted he was distracted.
‘I don’t know about that but Rihanna just walked in front of me! Are you kidding me?!,’ Van Gundy said.
Fellow analyst Mark Jackson then told Van Gundy to keep his focus on the game.
Stare down: Golden State Warriors player Kevin Durant seemingly stared down Rihanna after drilling a three-point shot late in the game
Cheering section: The singer and her personal assistant were rooting for the Cavaliers
‘Come on, tell the truth, when she walked by she was stunning,’ Van Gundy replied.
The Bajan beauty wore an all-black ensemble that included a jacket with plunging neckline.
She made her loyalty clear as she contrasted with most of the home team’s fans who wore yellow T-shirts.
Super fan: Rihanna stood up and cheered for the Cavs while surround by fans of the home team Warriors
Student of the game: The singer is an avid hoops fans and regularly goes to games
Personal assistant: Rihanna’s personal assistant Jennifer Rosales joined her for the game
RiRi showed her respect for ‘King James’ when she stood up and bowed as the Cavaliers star brought the ball up the court.
She also heckled Durant, 28, while he was at the free throw line and yelled ‘Briiiiiick!’ as he shot.
Durant toward the end of the lopsided game drilled a three-point shot and seemed to glare at Rihanna afterward as he passed her.
Not impressed: The singer looked on as Warriors star Durant ran past her courtside seat
Lopsided loss: RiRi looked bummed as the Warriors were on their way to thumping the Cavs 113-91 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals
Bajan beauty: The Barbadian singer looked stunning in her all-black ensemble
He was asked during a post-game press conference with teammate Steph Curry if he stared the singer down on purpose.
‘I don’t even remember that,’ Durant answered.
The reporter then told Durant the exchange was blowing up on social media.
No memory: Durant insisted that he did not remember staring down Rihanna
‘Don’t get in that trap,’ Curry advised.
‘Yeah, I won’t get into that. I’m cool. Have fun with that,’ Durant told reporters.
Rihanna with under 10 minutes left in the game also stood and dabbed for the crowd.
Hoops fan: Rihanna smiled while watching the action courtside at the Oracle Arena
In the bag: The Stay singer peered into her purse during the game
The heavily favored Warriors beat the Cavs 113-91 but Rihanna remained steadfast in her support.
She was heckled by Warriors fans after the game while walking past the Cavaliers locker room.
‘It doesn’t matter, b****. The King is still the King,’ she said.
Favorite player: James is shown bring the ball up the court while defended by Durant
It was the third straight time the Warriors and Cavs have met in the NBA Finals.
Cleveland won last year in seven games after the Warriors blew a 3-1 series lead.
The Warriors won in six games in 2015 when the Cavs were missing star players Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for most of the series.
Rihanna also rooted loudly for James in 2015 when the teams first met in the finals despite sitting next to Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
Stars out: Jay-Z also attended Game 1 of the NBA Finals
Meanwhile a sports reporter who earned the ire of the internet after calling Rihanna ‘fat’ — and writing a whole article about it — has been suspended after inspiring tremendous backlash.
On Tuesday, Bartstool Sports published a 350-word rant by Chris ‘Spags’ Spagnuolo about Rihanna’s supposed weight gain, which cracked ‘jokes’ about her looking like she was wearing a sumo suit.
In the piece, he also worried that her new look was ‘dangerous’ because it would inspire other ‘hot girls’ to follow suit.
Good seat: The rapper also enjoyed the action from a courtside seat
Unsurprisingly, Spagnuolo was met with widespread criticism and accusations of misogyny — a backlash that was so intense that he has just been suspended from blogging on the website indefinitely.
The piece was based on pictures of Rihanna in New York City from this past Saturday, in which one could argue that the 29-year-old singer looked heavier than usual.
The Barstool Sports writer, however, appeared to take personal offense at her supposed weight gain — and wrote an entire piece both making fun of her for it and worrying that Rihanna getting ‘fat’ would influence her fans to follow suit.
The article, ‘Is Rihanna Going To Make Being Fat The Hot New Trend?’, was swiftly met with criticism from Twitter users and other publications, with Cosmpolitan.com calling Barstool a ‘garbage sports site’, and Allure magazine tweeting: ‘Using misogyny & body-shaming women as a way to earn Twitter engagement is a pretty pathetic path to success.’
On Wednesday, the website’s editor Dave Portnoy issued a statement admitting the piece should have been written, but did not go so far as to apologize.
Today, however, the article has been removed from the website — and Portnoy has been announced that Spagnuolo has been suspended from blogging.
Funny guy: Kevin Hart and Jay-Z enjoyed a laugh while hanging out together at the game
