Just a few months ago when you thought of JR Smith your mind could go in a few different directions. His tendency to take his shirt off unprovoked, his recognizable squinty eyes, or maybe even his underrated dunking abilities.
Now, though, every basketball fan worth their salt thinks of one moment – the infamous judgement fail when JR Smith potentially cost the Cleveland Cavaliers a crucial Game 1 victory in the 2018 NBA Finals.
If you don’t know what the moment was, it was essentially this. The Cavs were awarded two free throws while down by one. George Hill stepped up to the line, and after hitting the first one to tie the game, he missed the second. With everyone prepared for either Hill to hit the free throw, or for a Warriors defensive rebound, it was pretty exciting for Cavs fans when they see JR Smith grab the rebound and fail to even put up a shot.
Essentially, he didn’t realize that snagging the rebound meant they still needed to score again. He figured it was a game of keep away at that point. He thought they were up by one.
Months later, enter Danica Patrick as host of the ESPYS. As part of her opening monologue there was a few different chirps, as expected, but none cut quite as deep as this ruthless chirp at Smith.
Rest In PEACE! Well, at least JR will have a lot more ball time to try and prove himself with that pesky LeBron gone…
(H/T ESPYS)
