Back in 2018, LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals once again but they faced the all-powerful Golden State Warriors that didn’t give them a break throughout the entire series. In the end, the Warriors swept the Cavs but things would’ve been a little different if it wasn’t for that infamous Game 1 and JR Smith’s blunder at the end of it.
In case you forgot about it, at the end of regulation in Game 1 of that series, George Hill had two free throws to give the lead to the Cavs. He made the first and missed the second. Smith caught the rebound and instead of going for the bucket, he just dribbled out the clock. The Cavs would lose the game in overtime, which sparked the anger of Bron.
After that, the now Los Angeles Lakers player reportedly went to the locker room, punched a blackboard and broke his right hand. He even talked about it in the post-game conference but never revealed the details behind his broken hand.
“What happened? Self-inflicted, post-game after Game 1. Very emotional, for a lot of different reasons. Understanding how important Game 1 is on the road for our ballclub, what would that have done for us. The way we played, the calls that was made throughout the course of that game, I had emotions on the game was taken away from us. I had emotions of you just don’t get opportunities like this on the road, versus Golden State, to be able to get a Game 1. And I let the emotions get the best of me. I pretty much played the last three games with a broken hand, so that’s what it is.”
Even when he didn’t want to give any details, Brian Windhorst reported the King had broken his right hand out of frustration due to the development and the final outcome of the game.
LeBron James suffered a significant right hand injury after Game 1 when he punched a black board in the locker room, sources told me & @mcten. He had 2 MRIs & has been wearing a soft cast. LeBron not using injury as an excuse but kept quiet to prevent Warriors from knowing.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 9, 2018
After that, the Cavs went to lose three straight games, which mean their third defeat against the Warriors in four years. Still, LeBron led his team to that series and they were really close to stealing that Game 1 at the Oracle Arena before JR Smith decided he had different plans.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and co. had no mercy with the Cavs, who saw LeBron play his last series with them during those Finals. The King recorded 34 points, 10 assists and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 52% from the field.
