Grim scene inside Cavs’ locker room
The world’s greatest basketball player was steaming in silence. J.R. Smith prepared himself for an explanation no one would believe. And a crowd of some 30 media people gathered around no one.
That was the bizarre scene in the Cleveland locker room Thursday night after Game 1 of the NBA Finals. It would seem comical to a Warriors fan, and probably to the victorious Warriors themselves. For the Cavaliers, it couldn’t have been more awkward.
There’s a strict protocol to postgame interviews in an event this big. The most in-demand players make their way to the interview room to speak before a large audience. If it’s someone deemed to be interviewed only in the locker room, the media has to wait until that player is fully dressed and walks over to a designated area. Other players can be questioned informally if there’s only mild interest.
When I walked in, some 20 minutes after the final buzzer, I knew there were three players who had to speak: LeBron James, who staged a performance for the ages; Tristan Thompson, who clashed bitterly with Draymond Green, and Smith, who forgot the score at the end of regulation and essentially dribbled out the clock in a tie game. They happened to have adjoining lockers and they were all seated, looking spent and exasperated. Only beginning to get dressed, they were shirtless, revealing a collective festival of upper-body tattoos.
And they were all off-limits. No interviews yet. The room was insanely jammed with journalists and TV crews, and as the minutes ticked away on people’s deadlines, no one could work.
So we studied the three men, trying not to stare. Surely, James delivered some powerful words to his teammates before the media was allowed to enter, but he had to hold back now. He never looked at Smith, or anyone else. Thompson eventually did a brief interview and left the room. But Smith was the focus, and he was taking just shy of forever to get some clothes on.
Across the way, people were bumping and jostling to get in position, forming a circle. “Who’s in there?” someone asked. “Nobody,” was the answer. “They’re waiting for J.R.”
Smith finally pushed through the crowd for his interview, in which he told a gigantic fib (“I knew the game was tied”). But I kept looking back at LeBron, who had been so monumentally let down by Smith and George Hill, who gagged the free throw that would have given Cleveland a one-point lead with 4.7 seconds left. I imagined his thought: “I score 51 points and
that’s what you give me?” There was dignity in his silence. Finally, wearing a shorts suit (that’s right: elegant jacket with matching shorts), LeBron was off to the main interview room, there to back up Smith 100 percent. ESPN’s Mark Schwarz was persistent in his questioning, but James held his ground. After Schwarz’s last try — “Did you know if he even knew the score?” — James angrily got up and left.
“James was not going to throw a teammate under the bus, and it led to him walking out,” wrote Kurt Helin of NBCSports.com. “I’d say ‘storming out,’ but can you really storm out of any place wearing a suit with shorts?”
Comical. Regrettable. And strange, like Game 1 itself.
The dreaded minutiae
The NBA’s replay policies are a blight on the game. There’s no going back, and there are times when an officials’ review corrects a grave injustice. But the Cavaliers got robbed near the end of regulation time Thursday night, and for no good reason. When Kevin Durant barged into James, a charge was called. It could easily have been called a block; that’s why they call it a judgment call, and by the letter of replay law, those cannot be reversed. Suddenly, a relatively new rule was enforced: allowing a review to see if the defensive player was inside the restricted area at the time. And once that process begins, the charge-block call can be reversed. This is insanity. James was well outside the area. If the charge call had stood, there wouldn’t have been much argument from anyone. Move on. Don’t stop the game for five minutes for this nonsense. And eliminate that rule over the summer, if not tomorrow . ... Thank goodness the league didn’t suspend Kevin Love for being on the court rather innocently during the GreenThompson skirmish. It’s not consistent with past punishment — see the Amar’e Stoudemire-Boris Diaw suspensions that probably cost Phoenix a 2007 playoff series against San Antonio — but it’s never too late to exercise common sense. That’s another rule that must be changed. Off-the-bench players should only be suspended if they actively join the fray . ... Stephen Curry is not a “LeBron stopper.” No player in the world can say that. Interesting, though: While Durant didn’t look at all enthused about guarding James, Curry met the challenge several times, and not always on a switch. For what it’s worth, from ESPN Stats & Information: LeBron has shot 6-for-26 when primarily guarded by Curry over the four-Finals stretch, including 2-for-5 with a turnover in overtime Thursday night . ... That’s quite the revolving door at the Warriors’ center position. Kevon Looney started Game 1, played six minutes and had no halftime stats of any kind, just zeroes. Zaza Pachulia is invisible. Jordan Bell and David West get a taste, with marginal impact. The high-energy guy in Game 1 was JaVale McGee, who scored a couple of times but also had a wide-open dunk blocked by the rim. Good for JaVale, laughing heartily in the locker room as he watched the incident on his phone. This is top-level embarrassment, though. Sort of like tripping over an ant at the company picnic.