OAKLAND, Calif.— According to J.R. Smith, he did in fact know the Cavaliers and Warriors were tied at the end of the fourth quarter in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
“I was trying to get enough to bring it out to get a shot off,” Smith told reporters. “I knew we were tied, I thought we were going to call timeout. If I thought we were ahead, I’d have held onto the ball and let them foul me.”
The costly mistake came with just over four seconds left in the game. With the game tied, 107-107, George Hill missed what would have been the go-ahead free throw. Golden State’s Kevin Durant did not box Smith out, however, and he was able to corral the offensive rebound.
Even though he appeared to have a decent look at a layup, Smith got the rebound and dribbled out near the 3-point line. But by the time he realized what was going on and passed it out to Hill on the baseline, regulation was over and the game was headed to overtime. Cleveland would go on to get outscored 17-7 in the five-minute period.
A replay of the final sequence appears to show Smith telling an exasperated LeBron James “I thought we were ahead.”
But after the game, Smith insisted that he did in fact know the score, and simply thought the Cavs were going to take a timeout.
“I tried to bring it out and get enough space to maybe get a shot off. I looked over at LeBron and he looked like he was trying to get a timeout. So I stopped, and the game was over. I thought we were going to take a timeout because I got the rebound. I’m pretty sure everybody didn’t think I was going to shoot it over KD right there.”
Head coach Tyronn Lue offered a different version of events:
Q: Obviously a lot to get to there. First, what did
you say or what did JR say to you in the locker
room about the play at the end of regulation?
TYRONN LUE: He thought it was over.
Q: He thought it was over?
TYRONN LUE: He thought we were up 1.
According to cleveland.com, however, Lue said through a team spokesperson later that he had not yet spoken to Smith about the play.
“I mean, who knows if JR would have made the layup anyway, so it was tough,” Lue went on to say. “You know, he had a little– he could have had a little floor, somebody was there. Then you think about calling the time out. But LeBron was open for a second, and it just happened too fast.”
Regardless of what was going through Smith’s head, the time he took off the clock while dribbling away from the hoop ultimately cost the Cavs a chance to win Game 1 in regulation. In the end, we will likely never know what he was thinking, or how such a mental lapse could happen on the league’s biggest stage.
“I thought we were all aware of what was going on,” James said. “That’s my view. So I don’t know what JR was thinking.”
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