The Cavaliers had a chance to close out the first game of the NBA Finals with a victory over the Warriors, but after rebounding a missed foul shot, JR Smith ran the 4th quarter clock down by retreating to the perimeter, rather than attempting to put the ball back up for a layup. The move left fans baffled, and so have his postgame remarks to the press.
For Cleveland fans, Thursday night's (May 31) 124-114 loss wouldn't hurt so much were it not for the blown opportunity. There were still 4.7 seconds left to play when Smith came down with the board off of George Hill's brick. And the Cavs guard was in a relatively good position to at least try to capitalize from under the rim, but he objects. "I'm pretty sure everybody didn't think I was going to shoot it over KD right there," he told reporters. "I tried to bring it out and get enough space to maybe get a shot off."
Some may contend that Smith's choice to bail out of fear of Durant's height is fair. But, his story has been inconsistent. Replays of his interaction with LeBron just moments after the buzzer went off seemed to show him mouthing the words "I thought we were up." He was later quoted as saying, "If I thought we were ahead I would have just held on to the ball and let them foul me," which in hindsight appeared to be exactly what he was doing.
But Smith would eventually say that he knew the game was tied. Which has begged the question of why he didn't just go for the win. Folks are still trying to wrap their heads around his answer. "I thought we were going to take a timeout because I got the rebound," he said.
