Golden State Warriors

Charles Oakley says it wasn't just the last play of regulation that J.R. Smith screwed up Thursday night -- he also made a crucial mistake in the 1st half that cost his team 3 points ... and maybe the game.

Oak was pretty upset with Smith's decision to go for a steal instead of playing shutdown defense on Steph Curry in the final seconds of the 1st half.

Smith missed the interception and Steph bombed a 3 ... Oakley says that was a major momentum change.

"Why are you going for a steal on the best shooter in the game?!"

Oakley says he hopes the Cavs can recover and bounce back strong in Game 2.

Kevin Durant will never have to fly coach again ... 'cause the NBA superstar's riding on the OUTSIDE of this plane from now on!!

The Golden State Warriors baller got a massive 560 square foot decal on the side of a plane as part of his partnership with Alaska Airlines aircraft ... complete with an insane 50-foot wingspan!!

A rep for the airline says the Durant decal is made of 34 pieces and took more than 144 hours to install on the 737-900ER aircraft.

Durant's been partnering with Alaska Airlines since September 2017 ... and serves as the "Advisor to the CEO" ... which apparently means the dude gets to put his face on a plane.

So, the Golden State Warriors celebrated their Western Conf. Championship Monday night by bumping Usher on the team jet.

Funny, since Usher happens to be a minority owner of the Cleveland Cavs ... and it's almost like Nick Young and company were trying to send a friendly message -- "We're coming!"

While passing around the trophy, Swaggy P took over music duties -- and busted out Usher's greatest slow jams hits ... from "Nice & Slow" to "U Remind Me" and even "Burn."

Most of the players were diggin' it -- singing along and even dancing.

Draymond Green is a SMART businessman ... because records show he's moved to lock up the rights to "Hampton 5" -- the nickname for the Golden State Warriors starting lineup.

The Dubs got the nickname last year when Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson flew out to the Hamptons to recruit Kevin Durant to the squad.

Since he joined, the "Hampton 5" has been murdering everyone ... winning the championship last season and making a run in the playoffs right now.

We noticed someone had filed for the "Hampton 5" trademark in 2017 and a deeper dive revealed the man behind the application is Money 23 Green Enterprises ... aka Draymond.

The application was to use the trademark for everything from sports drinks to gym bags, cell phone cases, headphones, comic books, athletic wear and educational tools.

Get this ... he even wanted the rights to use the trademark for a celebrity gossip website, just in case he feels like going all Harvey Levin.

Look away, Spurs fans ... Gregg Popovich has done the unthinkable -- DECLARE HIS ALLEGIANCE TO THE WARRIORS!!

He's clearly just kidding around ... but it's funny!

After going down 0-2 against Golden State Monday night, Pop was spotted leaving Oracle Arena by a couple fans -- who gave him a shout-out for a solid Game 2.

That's when Coach Pop went full Benedict Arnold on his own squad ... which sent the Dubs faithful into a frenzy.

Cam Newton did a really cool thing in Atlanta on Thursday ... rolling through a DICK'S Sporting Goods store to help a bunch of Special Olympics athletes crush a $200 shopping spree!!!

We're told there were 17 athletes at the store -- all local kids (from the same area where Cam grew up) ranging in age from 5 to 18.

Each athlete got $200 to spend in the store ($3,400 in total) -- from shoes to training gear or jerseys -- and Cam made sure each kid got the best stuff!

In fact, when one of the athletes (a Golden State Warriors fan) was having trouble deciding between a Steph Curry jersey and a Kevin Durant jersey ... Cam helped the guy make up his mind.

Wanna guess which one he chose?

Karma is a bitch -- just ask Draymond Green, who got hit with a groin shot 2 years in the making last night!!

You remember the play ... in Game 3 of 2016's Western Conference Finals, Draymond's leg punted OKC Thunder big Steven Adams square in the nuts.

Dray's always maintained it was accidental ... but it looked pretty bad.

Fast forward to Warriors vs. Spurs Monday night -- when Draymond met Danny Green at the rim and took a knee right around the ball bag!

He immediately keeled over and went to the locker room ... and was later diagnosed with a pelvic contusion -- a fancy way of saying a deep, painful bruise.

Green now joins Steph, KD and Klay on the injured list ... and ya gotta think Adams (and all of OKC) is smiling right now.

Hope Nick Young's not expecting to get reimbursed for his designer clothes ... 'cause Iggy Azalea says she doesn't even feel a little bad about torching her ex-fiance's wardrobe!!

We got Iggy at LAX after her fiery interview with Andy Cohen ... and while it was clear she didn't wanna go into any more detail on the matter, she did offer us a few words on whether or not she regretted turning all of Swaggy P's clothes into ash.

Ted Cruz says it's awesome his hometown Astros (mostly) said what's up to Trump at the White House ... and he's got faith the Rockets will, too.

We got the Texas Senator after he took in Monday's World Series ceremony in D.C. -- and you can tell he was still PUMPED off his 'Stros winning their first title.

"To win it in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, when so many Houstonians, so many Texans, were hurting -- it just meant an enormous amount," Cruz told TMZ Sports.

It was all pretty touching stuff from Ted ... that is 'til the conversation turned to the defending champion, Warriors -- who staunchly rejected their Oval Office visit.

"I think it is unfortunate that we've seen that happen ... I'm hoping that this is the first of at least two Houston trips to the White House this year."

Guessing he hasn't seen James Harden's hat ...

How did Steph Curry get down for his dirty 30??

By pullin' up to his party in a frickin' YACHT ... and slamming a plate of ribs during a live E-40 set!!

And that's just a taste of what went down at Steph's oceanside shindig ... where the 2-time MVP and his Warriors bros rang in his birthday "Ballers" style.

A ton of lit song and dance went down Monday night in SF ... featuring Curry himself, who hopped onstage to lead a Rick James karaoke bro down!!

Of course, his teammates weren't gonna let him have all the fun -- right, KD, Draymond and Klay?

E-40 wasn't the only music artist in attendance -- Paramore's Hayley Williams was also in the house to serenade him with the happy bday song.

Steph looked happy as hell the whole night ... and we would be too with hundreds of millions in the bank at age 30.

Party on, Stephen.

Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee crashed the Warriors vs. Wizards game Wednesday in D.C. -- and if ya couldn't tell, they LOVE their hometown Dubs ... unlike Donald Trump.

Pelosi and Lee hit up Steph Curry and the gang outside the Warriors' locker room after they got the W ... thanking the NBA champs for their trip to the nation's capitol, where they snubbed Trump in favor of hangin' with local youth.

But before the meet-and-greet, the SF and Oakland democratic reps got their fangirl on in the stands!! (Dope scarf, Nancy ... but Barb wins with her custom "The Town" jersey.)

“They make us proud ... they are civic leaders. We are huge fans,” Lee told the Washington Post.

FYI, Pelosi invited the Dubs to hang with her in D.C. after POTUS pulled their White House invite ... but the fact that she sought THEM out says a lot.

Guessing they'll hook her up with better seats at Oracle ...

How would Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Guber handle LaVar Ball if Lonzo played for his team?

You're about to find out ...

We spoke with Guber outside Madeo in L.A. and asked about LaVar's newest ultimatum -- that he'll pull Lonzo off the Lakers if they don't sign his 2 other sons LiAngelo and LaMelo in the next 2 years.

"I don't listen to that conversation," Guber said.

He then mouthed a bunch of words he'd like to say to LaVar -- but quite honestly, we couldn't really make out what he was trying to say.

Why was Nick Young kissing a puppet and grooving like Michael Jackson over the weekend?

Don't worry -- it's 'cause he was hypnotized ... and there's video!!

It all went down at the 30th birthday bash for Warriors teammate JaVale McGee ... where Swaggy P got on stage and put under. Like, really under -- dude was OUT.

What happened next was Swaggy like you've never seen him before -- putting the moves on a puppet during a slow dance ... and crotch-grabbin' and moon-walkin' like MJ.

Draymond Green told Nick Young he needed to "expand [his] horizons" ... so he took his NBA teammate to see the play "Hamilton."

Yep ... it was bros' night out at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago (since the guys were in town after playing the Bulls).

Wanna know what's worse than betting on the Steelers and the Saints Sunday??

Losing both bets to a giddy Nick Young ... and having to pay up with your whole team watching!!

That's exactly what happened to Draymond Green yesterday -- after the Warriors superstar went 0-for-2 betting football with Swaggy P on their way to Cleveland.

Draymond almost seemed in denial following the crazy ending to Vikings-Saints. Swaggy, of course, was PUMPED.

T.I. says he does NOT want in on Diddy and Steph Curry's bid to buy the Carolina Panthers ... 'cause owning a team ain't all it's cracked up to be.

The rap star broke it down for us out in Beverly Hills ... telling TMZ Sports he wouldn't wanna blow his bankroll when the league rules with an iron fist.

"I don't wanna spend a bunch of money on something that I can't do what I want, when I want," T.I. said.

"If I spend tens of millions or hundreds of millions, I want full rein and jurisdiction over everything ... you can't do that with the NFL."