The jawing in the 2016 NBA Finals has really ratcheted up over the past week or so. Facing each other for the title in a second-straight season, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are beginning to develop a tension that seems increasingly personal.
The latest involves Andrew Bogut, who will be missing the rest of the series and season with a knee injury, and J.R. Smith, who the Australian big man sort-of suggested caused his injury when talking to media Thursday in the lead-up to Game 6:
Andrew Bogut on J.R. Smith collision: "I blocked his shot. Somehow he cannon-balled right into my shin with his shoulder. It was painful."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 16, 2016
Andrew Bogut on if J.R. Smith collision was a basketball play: "I don't know how he fell and all that, but tough for interpretation."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) June 16, 2016
Here’s the video of the play in question so you can judge for yourself.
Intentionally or not, J.R. clearly undercuts Bogut mid-air here, and this causes his awkward and ultimately damaging landing. No one can say what Smith meant to do, and as such the debate about micro-aggressions and dirty play that have come to define much of the chatter around these Finals will only grow from here.
Smith, who once untied an opponent’s shoelaces, is a noted bonehead, and does not really get the benefit of the doubt in any fracas. In this particular instance, though, it seems hard to argue that he had enough control of his momentum or split-second decision-making to do anything so calculated as taking Bogut out of action.
