Game 1 of the NBA Finals was a night to forget for J.R. Smith. With the game down to the dying seconds, Smith grabbed a massive offensive rebound after George Hill had missed a free throw and all he had to do was lay it in for an easy basket. Instead, the veteran decided to regroup and it all went downhill from there.
The game ended up going into overtime, where the Warriors ultimately ran away with the victory, and all eyes were on Smith following the loss. When asked about the play, here’s what he had to say.
According to Smith, he was trying to get enough space to maybe get a shot off and then when he looked at LeBron it looked like he was signaling for a timeout, so he stopped. He also went on to deny that he thought they were ahead and that’s what led to the error, but thanks to today’s technology you can clearly see him mouth to LeBron something about him thinking they were up in the game.
It also doesn’t help Smith’s case that Ty Lue said that Smith thought it was over during the head coach’s post-game press conference. Even Steph Curry wasn’t buying that Smith knew the correct score at the end of the game.
(H/T Twitter/taniaganguli)
