While it seemed like every other seat was filled by an at-first dejected and then wildly elated celebrity cheering on the New York Knicks to a totally improbable last-second victory in game four of the NBA finals on Wednesday night (June 10), one A-lister who couldn’t make it still grabbed massive headlines.
On Thursday (June 11), Nicole Kidman gave her enthusiastic thumbs-up to Taylor Swift, and Este and Alana Haim of the band Haim for representing with their custom Knicks name pun T-shirts. And while she didn’t specifically shout out Este Haim for rocking a hilarious “Knickole Kidman” shirt on game night, in her Instagram Story the Margo’s Got Money Troubles star told the trio that she was with them in spirit.
“Right there with you girls!” Kidman wrote over a video of Swift shouting and pointing to her shirt — which read “Stevie Knicks” — before the camera turns to Swift hyping up Este’s Kidman-coded top. Kidman also reposted the trio’s celebration video in which they danced to Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” again lamenting that she could not be there to enjoy the good times.
“My girls!” she wrote in the caption. “I just wanna have fun!”
As just about everyone has seen by now, boy did they have fun! The trio — plus Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay, also wearing a “Stevie Knicks” shirt — have been clipped into countless videos showing their wild enthusiasm during the game in which the Knicks improbably came back from a 29-point deficit to win as time expired, taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
Vogue caught up with Alana Haim after the game, to talk about her custom T-shirt/tote bag side hustle. They found out that the bassist/singer bought the royal blue shirts from Michael’s for $2.99 each and screen-printed them herself after getting a text from Swift that read, “I want to wear this shirt to the game, can you make it for me?”
Haim said she thought her pal would never ask, so then the two talked fonts and sizing, with Swift offering up her idea for a music-related Knicks pun, setting off a parade of punny ideas. “We really just wanted to have fun, because we were so excited that we were going to the game, and I thought it would make people laugh, so we put them on shirts and all decided to wear them,” she said.
And yes, Este brought an extra one, because she always does, to give to friends, which is how Hargitay ended up joining in on the action. For the record, third Haim sister lead guitarist/singer Danielle was also reportedly at the game wearing a shirt reading “Knickolas Cage,” but did not sit with her siblings on celebrity row.
Game five of the series will take place in San Antonio on Saturday (June 13), which, if the Knicks win it, would mark the team’s first championship if 53 years.
