“Dress You Up.” Madonna, 54, attends the Met Gala costume ball in NYC.
Starting Five
1. Forget the Alamo. Remember Game 1!
It was only Game 1 in San Antonio, but in a city that is renowned for its memory of historic events, this double-overtime battle between the Spurs and the Golden State Warriors will not soon be forgotten. The Spurs stole this epic not once, but twice.
Golden State, which had last beaten the Spurs in Alamo Town in 1997, led 104-88 with 4:31 remaining and then forgot how to play basketball: 0-6 from the field, 0-2 from the free throw line, two offensive fouls, two turnovers and one shot blocked. The Boot Accessories outscored the Oaklanders 18-2 in that span to force overtime.
The two best shooters in Golden State history have five-letter surnames that end in “-rry.” FWIW.
In the second extra frame, the Warriors battled back from a five-point deficit in the final 1:06 to take the lead on a layup by rookie Kent Bazemore. But if there was going to be hero with eight letters in his surname arranged in consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel order, it could only be one man: GINOBILI! Manu Ginobili, who was one for eight from beyond the arc until that moment, buried a wide-open three with just over one second remaining to seal the victory. To see how the Argentine was so wide open, go to the 1:55 mark of this ESPN highlight (besides, you get to listen to Neil Everett; Is that good? It’s not bad). You’ve got to think Jarrett Jack blew it on the switch, though credit Coach Pop for drawing up a brilliant double-pick play.
e Manu-facturing a victory.
Stephen Curry? He scored 44 points –22 of them in Quarter 3 — and had 11 assists in the defeat. Freaking brilliant. Please don’t let this series end before at least Game 6.
2. The Met Gala, at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th Avenue (it’s where Harry sang “Surrey with a Fringe on Top” to Sally in that movie with their names in the title), is the second leg of the East Coast Triple Crown of swanky soirees. The first is the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was last weekend (I’m not certain what the third leg is, but I’ll look into it).
Klum: She’s still got it.
The theme was Punk Fashion. Check out this poonarama (here’s the gallery) of beautiful belles: Beyoncé, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Taylor Swift, J-Lo, J-Law (Jennifer Lawrence), Katy Perry, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Florence Welch, Kylie Minogue, Nikki Minaj, Alicia Keys, and Debbie Harry (that’s a bin-ful of female hit singles), Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady, Gwyneth, Diane Kruger, Rooney and Kate Mara, Julianna Hough, “mature” models Brooklyn Decker and Heidi Klum (no one looked better) and in-their-prime models Anja Rubik and Karlie Kloss, Jessica Alba, both of Don Draper’s wives, January Jones (no one looked scarier) and Zou Bisou Bisou, and both of Jason Sudeikis’ girlfriends, Jones and Olivia Wilde, Uma, Kates Upton and Beckinsale, Blake Lively, Amber Heard, Stacy Kiebler, long-time crush Joely Richardson (who needs to hit the chin-up bar), Tiger and Lindsey, and…
Photographic evidence of a right hand for Jaime Lannister
…Kingslayer.
3. Rose Buds
ESPN devoted much of the afternoon to embracing the debate over whether or not Derrick Rose should return to play in the Bulls’ series with the Heat; Twitter devoted it to that lone dude who did NOT vote for LeBron James for NBA MVP. And then Chicago, which has played as the most cohesive force in the playoffs thus far, went out and stunned the defending champions on their home court in Game 1 in Miami. Bulls 93, Heat 86, thanks to a game-ending 10-0 run and more studly play by the league’s smallest player who still matters, Nate Robinson of the Bulls, who is listed at 5-9 but whose height is probably identical to the numerical value of this date. Robinson, who needed 10 stitches after taking a blow to the lip in the first half, scored a game-high 27 points. LeBron had 24.
Nate Robinson: You gotta Bull-ieve.
You may recall that it was Chicago that ended Miami’s 27-game win streak earlier this season.
4. “Free at last! Free at last!”
Three women held against their will in Cleveland and I’m not talking about that show with Valerie Bertinelli, Betty White and the nurse from Frasier (there were four? Oh well, I’m not going to let that ruin my joke). Incredibly, the trio had been missing for 10 years and were all kidnap victims being held, allegedly, by a threesome of brothers in one house. This sounds like the worst Lifetime movie ever. Still, you wonder how many other women are in similar predicaments at this very moment and their families have no idea that they’re alive.
5. Big Stick Figure
Because Boston has been newsworthy for other reasons over the past few weeks, you may have missed that Red Sox DH David Ortiz has a 26-game hitting streak going. Big Papi’s streak extends all the way back to July 2, 2012, or 309 days. Ortiz, 37, has been battling a painful Achilles tendon in his right leg and did not play his first game of the 2013 season until April 20 after missing 70 games of the 2012 season. Still, he is batting .426 (that would lead the Majors if he had enough ABs to qualify) and the Red Sox, who beat the Twins in 11 innings last night at Fenway, have baseball’s best record at 21-11.
Hits like, but does not physically resemble, the Splendid Splinter
REMOTE PATROL
Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators
CNBC 7 p.m.
Are you ready, skeedaddy!?! Go directly from “Mad Money” to the most compelling first-round series of the Stanley Cup playoffs as a pair of Canadian clubs square off at Scotiabank Place. The Senators lead the series 2-1 after Sunday’s 6-1 win that included nine game misconduct penalties. So, apparently, no one has forgotten Eric Gyrba’s Game 1 hit on Lars Eller.