Cavs toss Warriors Finals-changing lifeline
This story was originally published on May 31, 2018.
The Cavaliers missed their chance. Their chance to claim Game 1. Their chance to flip the NBA Finals — considered by many to be a surefire and easy Warriors win — on its head. And they played an exceptional game — OK, Lebron James played an exceptional game — and that, paired with another disjointed effort from the Warriors, closed the prodigious gap between the two teams and put a victory within Cleveland’s grasp in the final minute of regulation Thursday. All Cavs guard George Hill had to do was make his second free throw in a tied game with 4.6 seconds remaining on the clock. All Cavs wing J.R. Smith had to do after Hill missed that free throw and he grabbed the rebound was to go up and make what would have been a wide-open layup. Instead, Smith — clearly not knowing that the game was tied — dribbled away from the hoop to run out the clock as a befuddled James implored him to turn around and take a shot. By the time Smith might have realized what was happening, the buzzer had sounded, time had expired, and overtime was ordered. After the game, Smith said he knew that the score was tied — perhaps in an effort to save face. His coach, Ty Lue, didn’t back up that claim, though: “He thought we were up one,” Lue said. The Warriors — given a hilariously bizarre lifeline in a contest they, frankly, should have lost — took full advantage of it, outscoring the Cavs by 10 points in that overtime period to claim Game 1, 124-114, and control of the series. “Sometimes you need a little luck … It’s good to be lucky sometimes,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “You got to know the score. That’s kind of basketball. ... We’ll take it. The Cavs entered this series as massive underdogs to the Warriors —