Tonight, the NBA Finals begin. In a playoff landscape where a lot has gone down On The Internet, it's worth venturing a guess of where the winding road that is NBA Twitter — which is possibly best described as a battlefield of hot-takes and dorks armed with stats pouncing on trivial arguments — might go the rest of the way. It could go anywhere! But first, a recap of the NBA's biggest and baddest playoff memes:
Toddlers
This has been the Postseason of the Toddler. Not only have toddlers — like Riley Curry, at the top of the post, and P.J. Rose, above — stolen the show on the post-game mic, they've enraged a number of cranky journalists, the first sign that you're doing something right.
P.J. immediately became A Thing:
Deeper into the playoffs, Riley Curry — daughter of Stephen — made memorable, if hilariously distracting, appearances at the podium as well. For instance:
Toddlers! Toddlers is the winner! But toddlers weren't the only ones pouring gasoline onto Twitter's furious burning churn.
Based God's Curse
In an increasingly bizarre trickle-up of Internet culture and social-media-driven entertainment, Internet-famous rapper Lil B "cursed" the Rockets' best player, James Harden, for the Western Conference Finals. Harden's infraction? Stealing Lil B's "cooking dance." (Turns out, Harden was mimicking another rapper's dance, but that's a whole other story I'm not going to get into.)
Given Lil B's propensity for curses of this nature, the Internet latched onto this feud and never let go. After James Harden struggled in the series finale, he told reporters he had never heard of Lil B, which only made the story bigger.
Soon enough, Kreayshawn — the Oakland rapper who authored the viral hit "Gucci Gucci" — called out Harden for acknowledging Lil B in a tweet several years ago. This story … this story is a movie.
What's Next?
If I had to guess what new narrative will be the fount from which memes spring in the NBA Finals — a series that features the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavs — I'd be screwed: The hijacking of the NBA plotlines by babies and Lil B the Based God is head-spinning enough. So, I'm going to guess …
Pogs.
LeBron is gonna haul like, a huge trove of pogs up there it’s gonna be nuts. “Hey J.R., can I borrow your slammer?” I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a great June.
