LEBRON NETS 51 BUT J.R. SMITH COSTS CAVS
Boneheaded Smith costs Cavaliers chance to stun Warriors
LeBron James — who carried the Cavaliers with 51 points — reacts after J.R. Smith (inset) seemingly forgot the score and didn’t take a shot following an offensive rebound with Game 1 of the NBA Finals tied at the end of regulation. The Warriors took advantage of the brain lock and rolled in overtime.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Cavs were a shot away from an upset. They had the ball. But it was J.R. Smith who had his mitts on it. Not LeBron James.
Smith had done a great job, grabbing the rebound of a missed George Hill free throw in a tied game. He dribbled around wasting time until he passed to Hill, whose final heave came after the buzzer, as James watched in horror.
The key word there was tied. Smith played like he felt the Cavs had the lead. It was a mistake of monstrous proportions.
“[Smith] thought it was over,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “He thought we were up one.”
And in the overtime, the Warriors rolled to a 124-114 win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals Game 1. Not even James’ first 50-point playoff game — the sixth in Finals history — could save the Cavs, who had done so much right all game. But the overall power of the Warriors’ four AllStars proved too much.
Smith disputed the notion that he thought the game was tied.
“I knew we were tied. I thought we were going to call timeout because I got the rebound,” Smith said. “If I thought we were ahead, I would have just held onto the ball and let them foul me.”
James finished with a 51-point, eight-rebound, eight-assist gem. But the Warriors overwhelmed in a game that ended in frustration and anger as Tristan Thompson was tossed in the closing seconds for a Flagrant 2 foul on Shaun Livingston. Thompson shoved the basketball in the face of Draymond Green before leaving the court.
Stephen Curry finished with 29 points, Kevin Durant scored 26, Klay Thompson who suffered a first-quarter knee injury, scored 24 and Green finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Love, released from the concussion protocol earlier in the day, scored 21 for the Cavs and Smith finished with 10. And one major gaffe. “I got the rebound. Tie ball game. We had a timeout and I was trying to get enough space ... to bring it out to maybe get a shot off,” Smith said. “I looked over at LeBron; he looked like he was trying to call [a] timeout, so I just stopped. And the game was over.” James, whose three-point play with 50.8 seconds left in regulation put the Cavs ahead 104-102, appeared to draw what could have been a game-deciding charge on Kevin Durant with 36.4 left. But the call was overturned, James was charged with a blocking foul and Durant hit two free throws to tie the score. But this thing was as close to being at the end as Page 7 of “War and Peace.”
James drove. Cavs up two. Curry drove for a three-point play. Warriors up one. But the Cavs had 23.5 seconds left. James fired a pass inside to George Hill who was held. Two shots at 4.7 seconds. He made one. He missed one. Smith rebounded.
And overtime arrived as James stood incredulously staring at Smith.
After missing their first six 3pointers of the fourth quarter, the Warriors electrified their boisterous sellout crowd when Green and Curry banged home back-to-back triples at 5:06 and 4:39. Golden State led 100-94 and the crowd was feeling good.
But underestimating any team with James on its side is nonsense.
James did it at both ends — and everywhere in between. He scored on successive dunks 43 seconds apart to make it 100-98. But the biggest was yet to come.
With Curry banging in a 3pointer at the buzzer from a neighboring zip code — OK, it was “only” from 38 feet — the game entered halftime tied 56-56.
So now came the dreaded third quarter. Grown men have changed their identities and moved to Greenland rather than face the Warriors in the third quarter, where they have been dominant. And it started that way again, pretty much because of one player. Not Curry, not Durant, not Thompson, not Green. JaVale McGee. Yup, McGee, he of the 103 playoff minutes through the first three rounds.
“We got a really good burst of energy from JaVale McGee. Our third quarters have been pretty good. I don’t know why,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr in a TV interview.
But the biggest reason that the Cavs led by as many as 11 points — 51-40 — in the second quarter went beyond Durant’s early struggles or Thompson’s injury or contributions from Love or Thompson was simple.
LeBron was LeBron. The Warriors have seen it all before. Anything different?
“Honestly, not much. Still a triple-double threat every night. Doing it in crunch time, doing it for 48 minutes, not resting. So not much has changed. Just he’s a year older,” Thompson said.