At first glance, the 2018 NBA Finals don’t look like anything special. The Warriors beat the Cavaliers 4-0 that year in a dominant display of greatness. Years later, however, one moment continues to live on in the minds of fans and experts alike: the ending of Game 1. In a sit-down on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, former Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith explained the series of events that led up to their opening day loss, which eventually led to their total demise in the series.
“The play before, there was a foul. I thought he [Hill] made both of them, and he didn’t. So I was like ‘Alright bet’ so next time George gets the ball on a free throw I’m like ‘Alright bet.’ We get the ball, and we call a timeout because they’re gonna try to foul anyway,” said Smith. “So we do what we normally do. So I get the ball and nobody calls a timeout, so I dribble it back out then because the game is about to be over. I look back at LeBron and he’s pointing like this and I’m like ‘What the f*ck is he pointing at?’ I look over… and oh man. After that, it’s just like I know this sh*t didn’t just happen, not in the Finals.”
It was a tense scene leading up to Game 1 that year. After winning two of the past three championships, the Warriors were heavily favored to win their second straight, and they dominated the 2016 playoffs with a 12-5 record through the first three rounds. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green, this season was the Warriors at their peak, and they were borderline unbeatable when healthy.
On the other side was LeBron James, who matched up against the Warriors for three years straight, leading up to their 2018 showdown. Unlike Curry, however, James did not have the luxury of playing with a stacked roster. At this point, Kyrie Irving was already gone after requesting a trade years earlier, and Kevin Love was a shell of his former self with modest numbers across the board. The Cavaliers started the Finals as the fourth seed and as major underdogs to win the title.
Despite the drastic differences in depth and star power, LeBron was leading the Cavaliers to an impressive performance in Game 1, and it looked like they had the win secured until the closing seconds of the match. It was then that J.R. Smith made the biggest mistake of his NBA career, a mistake which ultimately cost the Cavs a crucial Finals win.
The game was tied at 107 with 4.7 seconds left to play when George Hill missed the second of two free throws, and J.R. Smith rebounded the loose ball. Rather than making a correct play (calling a timeout, taking a shot to win, or passing to a teammate), the veteran guard dribbled the ball toward half-court in an attempt to run out the clock.
What he didn’t realize was that his teammate, George Hill, did not make both his free throws, meaning the score was still tied as opposed to his team having a one-point lead, as he thought. LeBron, who was watching it all unfold in real-time, was devastated by the mistake, and his live reaction to J.R. was something not easily forgotten.
The game wasn’t lost at that point, and the Cavaliers still had a chance to win in overtime. Sadly for Cleveland, they ran out of gas down the stretch and lost Game 1 before dropping the next three games in a row to lose the series. To this day, it’s arguably the most brutal playoff moment of LeBron’s career and a reminder that even one mistake can prove costly at the highest levels of play.
