If you’re a Cavaliers or LeBron James fan, this footage may be tough to stomach.
Almost everyone around the world, NBA fan or not, has seen J.R. Smith’s massive blunder to end regulation of Game 1 of this year’s NBA Finals. With the scores tied at 107 apiece and with 5 seconds on the clock, Smith bizarrely forgot the score as he grabbed an offensive rebound off a George Hill free throw miss, thinking the Cavs were up one point. Smith proceeded to dribble the ball out of the key and to halfcourt, dribbling out most of the game clock and sending the game to OT, where Cleveland would lose.
Many saw how distraught LeBron was during the play, noticing J.R.’s mistake before he did, but was unable to do anything about it. The blunder pretty much sapped all the energy out of the Cavs roster and all but sealed their fate that night.
New footage of the aftermath has been released today, however, showing the Cavaliers’ bench as they geared up for overtime. Smith looks like he wants to be anywhere but Oracle Arena at that moment in time, but the main point of the video is LeBron, who asks Tyronn Lue if they Cavs had a timeout. After learning that they did, James literally almost breaks down in tears.
Man this is cringe, LeBron finding out they had a timeout left at the end of regulation in Game 1. pic.twitter.com/9AQ5XEqgkZ
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 4, 2018
This pretty much explains why LeBron was so ineffective in OT, as he was probably still hung up on the last play of regulation.
LBJ fan or not, you gotta feel sorry for him given everything he had done for the Cavs that game.
