While the 2018 NBA Finals moves on ahead of Game 3 tipping off on Wednesday night, the end of Game 1 is still burned into the forefront of everyone’s minds. The Cleveland Cavaliers let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers, as J.R. Smith kind of sort of lost track of the score in the game’s waning moments, meaning regulation ended in a tie and Golden State got the chance to run the Cavs off the court in overtime.
Part of the reason this is still being discussed is a video that isolated LeBron James after Smith’s error popped up on social media. It shows James learning Cleveland had a time out and becoming absolutely gutted. In an era where athletes are supposed to double as superheroes, it was a shockingly human moment out of the best basketball player in the world.
James was asked about this video on Tuesday afternoon during his media availability. He said the video was pretty self-explanatory, and joked about the “damn cameras” that caught the whole thing after learning it went viral. At that point he dove in and gave a full breakdown of exactly what transpired.
LeBron James reacts to the viral bench video between end of regulation and OT during Game 1. #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/MMFKSn8yJa
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 5, 2018
“I was sitting on the bench and kinda just contemplating the last couple of seconds of what just happened, from J.R. dribbling the ball out to [George Hill] missing the free throw, actually seeing Draymond [Green] step in early on the lane violation, asking myself ‘did I have a lane to actually drive it?’” James said. “So there was a lot of things playing through my head. When the game clock went off before J.R. kinda threw the ball to G-Hill to the corner, I actually tried to call time out and I believe it was Ed Malloy that was right there, our referee. I don’t know if I had enough time, because I was still a little bit in shock of what was going on at that point in time.
“So I got to the bench, first thing that came to my mind, I was like ‘I was calling a time out, but maybe if we didn’t have any, I’m glad they didn’t give it to me, I didn’t want another C-Webb incident,’” James continued. “That happened, then they make their free throws and the game is over. So I asked our coaching staff if we had a time out, they told me yes, and I guess y’all probably seen the reaction from that point on.”
James also explained that his reaction wasn’t necessarily because of Smith’s actions, but rather “Knowing that we had an opportunity to have another possession even with the offensive rebound, it was just a heartbreaking loss.”
It really was a brutal blow for Cleveland, one which was compounded by the Warriors running them off the floor in Game 2. Perhaps Game 3 will be different now that the series moves back to their home floor, or maybe the lingering effects of the Cavaliers’ loss in the first game of the series will end up being too much for them to overcome.
