The 2018 Finals saw LeBron James try and backpack the Cleveland Cavaliers to even get a win over the Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry-led Warriors. James dropped 51 points in Game 1 as the Cavaliers lost a heartbreaking game in OT. ESPN’s Zach Lowe spoke on his ‘Lowe Post’ podcast and said that was the greatest individual performance he’s ever seen.
“I’ve said this before game one of the 2018 finals, which was the JR Smith forgets the score game in a series that the Cavs got swept in… LeBron had 51, eight, and eight on 19 of 32 shooting in that game. The Warriors were throwing everything at him, with all switches and doubles… That might be the best basketball game I’ve ever seen anybody play, considering the opposition, the stakes, all of it. The team he was facing, and there are people within the Warriors who would agree to that and they were like, ‘Oh my God.'”
The game is remembered infamously for J.R. Smith forgetting the score and not attempting a shot at the end of the fourth quarter. He thought the Cavs held a one-point lead when the game was tied, prompting the game to go to OT where LeBron didn’t have the gas to singlehandedly carry the team anymore.
James ended that game with 51 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists on efficient shooting. By this point, he didn’t have a scorer like Kyrie Irving beside him, with his best teammate being Kevin Love, who had just 21 points on the night.
J.R. Smith Refuses To Take Accountability For His Mistake
Everyone agrees that J.R. Smith had forgotten the score of the game and didn’t shoot, but Smith still doesn’t accept that the mistake was solely his fault. He recently explained how he expected the coaches to take a timeout because the team had one left at that point.
“I already knew we had a timeout. I get the rebound and I think it’s five other times in the season we were put in the same situation. The first thing we do, we get the rebound, we call a timeout, get the ball to LeBron, space out, he’s gonna make it work. I did think we were up by one. In this situation, we got the rebound, we called a time out and we got a chance to win. What better chance we got? But long story short, don’t go that way.”
Smith also explained that he didn’t shoot the ball because Kevin Durant was in front of him.
“Now granted, this a tied ballgame. ‘Oh, why you ain’t shoot it?’ I get the rebound. I got KD, who’s seven foot, stick his hand up, he’s 10 feet tall. I got another dude who’s my height right behind me. What else am I gonna do with the ball other than dribble it out?”
Smith’s indecision led to one of James’ greatest Finals performance to end with a loss. The game also exemplified the fact that the series was going to end in a sweep, as James couldn’t lead a team of much lower quality to even be competitive against what some consider to be the greatest of all time.
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