Steph Curry had an especially bad Game 6 on Thursday during the NBA Finals. It ended in an ejection, a move that led his wife Ayesha Curry, a chef and actor, to accuse the NBA of rigging the game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Golden State Warriors 115-101 to force a Game 7 after being down in the series 3-1. It’s a feat that the Warriors pulled off just a couple weeks ago, but LeBron James has been a force of nature as the Cavaliers have won two straight. Steph, however, struggled throughout the game. After a fourth-quarter foul, he tossed his mouth guard in frustration and it led to his ejection. He later said he didn’t mean to throw the mouth guard at the fan.
https://vine.co/v/il52wZ9brm1
It was after Steph’s ejection that Ayesha took to Twitter to vent her frustration, and in a now-deleted tweet that got more than 81,000 retweets before disappearing, she claimed the game was rigged for money or ratings.
The idea that the NBA is rigged is far from a new idea. The conspiracy theories have persisted for years, and certain occurrences, such as former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo congratulating the Philadelphia 76ers for receiving the No. 1 overall pick hours in advance, do little to squelch those theories. But because the latest accusations came from Ayesha Curry, who is closely linked to the NBA and the wife of the league’s MVP, some theorists felt vindicated.
But mostly basketball fans proceeded to poke fun at the tweet.
👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 👀👀👀👀👀 https://t.co/BZbVu5n4Yu
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 17, 2016
“Hi I’m Ayesha, and today I’ll be showing you how to cook up a spicy conspiracy theory” pic.twitter.com/B3Q1y0HC4e
— Stilgar Hive (@magicmiiike) June 17, 2016
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) June 17, 2016
— lindsey marie (@thekuhlest) June 17, 2016
Rigged or not, some people had called Cleveland’s landslide victory after Steph messed up his pregame routine.
https://twitter.com/Shaqtin_A_Fool/status/743590262711160832
Showed most ppl at this bar the vine of Curry messing up his pregame routine – Cavs by 30 is the consensus
— muybien (@bnagel81) June 17, 2016
Ayesha apologized for the hasty tweet and said that she tweeted it “in the heat of the moment.” She also said that she was upset after police had tried to arrest her father, who was in attendance for the game.
tweeted in the heat of the moment because the call was uncalled for.
— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) June 17, 2016
Police racial profiled my father and told him to remove credentials and tried to arrest him. It’s been a long night for me. I apologize:
— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) June 17, 2016
I’m okay that we lost… I just can’t take people coming at my family for absolutely no reason. Something I don’t understand or stand for.
— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) June 17, 2016
Game 7 is Sunday, and it’s probably going to be a wild one—but we wouldn’t be surprised if even more conspiracies come out of it.
https://twitter.com/Lahlahlindsey/status/743649259539599360