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Why Tina Fey Was the Absolute Best Celeb Sighting During Knicks’ Win Over Hawks at MSG

Protect her at all costs.
Kristen Wong|
Tina Fey was among the A-list celebrities at Madison Square Garden cheering on the Knicks during their playoff game against the Hawks.
Tina Fey was among the A-list celebrities at Madison Square Garden cheering on the Knicks during their playoff game against the Hawks. | Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

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New York KnicksAtlanta Hawks

30 ROCK COLD OPEN: Liz Lemon and Tracy Jordan are sitting courtside for Game 5 of the Knicks-Hawks first-round playoff series at Madison Square Garden. Lemon notices that Timothée Chalamet is man-spreading next to her but doesn’t know how to politely tell him to close his legs and thinks he may be extra sensitive after losing out on an Oscar. Jenna Maroney, threatened by Kylie Jenner’s looks and fame, signs up to perform the national anthem before the game and tries to sing her own Fergie-inspired take on it. After Jordan has a chat with Ben Stiller, whom he seriously believes is Derek Zoolander, he realizes he has a new lifelong dream: To become a male model. All the while, Jack Donaghy is watching the game from his private suite, and he overhears Adam Silver discussing anti-tanking proposals; he scoffs, sips his scotch and thinks about all the ways he could ruin the NBA for good.

None of that actually happened in 30 Rock, but it sure would be fun if it did.

Tina Fey was, indeed, in the house for the Knicks’ blowout win over the Hawks on Tuesday night, with New York looking like they’re back in business after overcoming a 2-1 series deficit. Of all the A, B and C-list celebrities who showed up at MSG, we dare say Fey, who’s not exactly known to be an avid sports fan, was the absolute best. Here’s what she was up to.

First, she was in fact a victim of Chalamet’s man-spreading during the game, as one fan noted on social media:

Shame on the Marty Supreme star, who went Oscar-less this past awards season. That wasn’t all we got to see from Fey, though.

New York’s 126-97 rout of Atlanta meant it was a great night for Knicks fans—and for 30 Rock fans, who no doubt delighted upon seeing Fey reunited with Tracy Morgan:

The comedic duo still found a way to entertain sports fans during the tense playoff game, as Fey inadvertently became a meme for one of her side conversations with Morgan:

So iconic.

And lastly, NBC play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico spent some airtime naming the star-studded celebs sitting courtside and rather badly flubbed Fey’s name.

“Sometimes you say celebrity row at a game and it's one or two people, this is an ENTIRE celebrity row,” Tirico said to Reggie Miller. “Chalamet, Tina Fox. Tracy Morgan.”

An A for effort there, Mike.

NBC workers talking about (fake) NBC workers? Talk about breaking down the fourth wall. We’d like to see more of Fey, and less Chalamet, at future Knicks games, please and thank you.

The Knicks currently lead the series 3-2 and will look to close things out in Game 6 on Thursday night at Atlanta.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020 and has a bachelor’s in English and linguistics from Columbia University. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. She is a lifelong Liverpool fan who enjoys solving crossword puzzles and hanging out at her neighborhood dive bar in NYC.

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