LeBron James Told A Reporter To ‘Be Better Tomorrow’ After Being Pressed On J.R. Smith

The final regulation possession of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 124-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors is one that no one will forget any time soon. The game was tied, and after George Hill missed a free throw with less than five seconds left, J.R. Smith came down with a rebound and dribbled out the clock.

Smith claims he knew the game was tied, while a video of the incident and Tyronn Lue’s recollection of what went down disagree with his assessment. As for LeBron James — who was visibly upset with Smith after everything went down — well, let’s just say he wasn’t in much of a mood to get pressed on it.

James’ postgame press conference came to an end when Mark Schwarz of ESPN kept asking him about the incident, asking things like “did he think the game was tied or did he think you guys had it salted away?” and statements like “I was just trying to see if you knew exactly what his state of mind was.”
Cleveland’s star wasn’t exactly happy with these questions, so he stood up, got his stuff, and walked out, making a point to tell Schwarz to “be better tomorrow” as he was leaving.

It was a rather bizarre line of questioning — it makes sense to ask James about the final play, but asking him if he knew what Smith was thinking in that moment when Smith had previously answered that question felt like he was trying to lead James down a path, one which would have ended with him saying either Lue or Smith had a different recollection of the sequence.

But regardless, we can all take James’ advice to heart and try to be better tomorrow. That’s especially true for the Cavs, as they’ll have two days to prepare for Game 2 against the Warriors with the hopes of sending the series back to Cleveland tied at one game a piece.