J.R. Smith left quite the impression in the Cavaliers’ Game 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors. After collecting an offensive rebound with seconds to go in a tie game, he was perfectly positioned to go back up and get a bucket or at least a trip to the free throw line, but instead, he explicably dribbled the ball out and burned almost the rest of the clock out. The Cavs would lose in overtime.
According to Smith, he believed his coach was going to call a timeout; fans, however, are unconvinced. It seems likely that he just, you know, forgot the score.
Believe it or not, this has happened before in his career. In 2014 as a member of the New York Knicks, Smith was active during a tie game that saw the score tied with 20 seconds left in a tie game. However, instead of holding for the last shot, Smith pulled -- and missed -- a three-pointer that gave the ball back to the Houston Rockets, who won it on the next possession.
Unlike now, Smith publicly confessed to the blunder, telling the New York Daily News that he believed his team to be down by two then. He also sent this tweet out, which, after it was dug back up by Twitter sleuths, naturally began making the rounds again last night.
Smith has long been a beneficial presence next to LeBron James for his three-point shooting and dynamism, but, yeah. This one’s a weird one to goof up, especially more than once.
