J.R. Smith wrote the first line in his obituary Thursday night.
“Former NBA star J.R. Smith, whose clutch 3-point shooting helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, but whose mental blunder helped cost them Game 1 of the Finals two years later, died today of _____ at the age of ____.”
To sum up the end of a game that will be remembered as long as J.R. and the rest of us are still sucking air, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers were engaged in an epic back-and-forth opening game of their best-of-seven series Thursday night. With under 40 seconds left and Cleveland up two points, Kevin Durant — having already benefitted from two questionable fourth-quarter calls on what appeared to be clean strips — was called for charging into LeBron James. But the refs changed the call to a block on James after reviewing the replay to see whether James was in the restricted area (he wasn’t). Durant hit both free throws. A few plays later, George Hill was fouled with 4.7 seconds left and the Cavs down by a point. Hill tied the game by making the first FT, then missed the second and J.R. Smith wound up with the rebound. This surprised everyone, including Smith, who dribbled out most of the clock obviously thinking Cleveland had the lead. Forced into overtime, the Cavs disintegrated and lost by 10.
Poor J.R.’s getting all the blame, but in fairness to Smith — a player I’ve come to like over the years — here are three quick reasons why his mistake was NOT the biggest reason the Cavs lost:
1) George Hill is getting off real easy here. Generally, Man who Misses Game-Winning Free Throw equals GOAT where I come from. And Hill’s no plodding center: He’s a point guard, and a career 80% FT shooter.
2) I didn’t even know the refs could review a charge/block call in the last 2 minutes. Turns out they can only initiate replay to consider whether a defender is in the circle, which James wasn’t even close to, but once they look at the replay, THEN they can change their mind about whether it was a charge or a block! That might be the worst rule I’ve ever heard of And they topped it off by getting the call wrong AFTER getting it right the first time. It was a charge in real time or in slo-mo. (Deadspin’s Albert Burneko has a wonderful breakdown of that whole debacle).
3) I’m not sure the Cavs would have scored at the end anyway. Kevin Durant would have blocked any layup attempt by Smith, and the refs sure weren’t going to call any fouls.
What Smith’s play did, however, hurt the team in a much deeper and more insidious way. As a fan, watching J.R. dribble out those last seconds was a surreal experience — like watching George W. Bush try to dance. One’s brain, confronted with the sight of another human violating all previously understood rules of the way the mind send signals to the muscles, might lose faith in one’s eyes, and then what have you got? I could no more process what was happening in real time than Smith could. Even worse was that pathetic postgame attempt to cover-up the obvious by claiming he knew the score — the only thing missing was Rudy Giuliani speaking on Smith’s behalf.
In keeping with the whole obituary theme, I think most of us can agree that the Cavs are dead now. I know people have been writing them off all year, but the body language on their bench after the end of regulation was unmistakable. No one said anything or even made eye contact. It’s hard to imagine LeBron ever trusting J.R. again (or Hill?), despite what he says. If Cleveland wins that game, they’ve got a great chance to get this series to 7 games. Now they’ll be lucky to avoid a sweep. And last night’s game sure as shit didn’t help Ty Lue’s stress issues.
As for LeBron, that was the greatest game I’ve seen him play, and I’ve seen them all. I can’t think of a single thing he did wrong Thursday night. And now it’s just an afterthought.
There is good news for ABC, though: The last time this many people were mad at a guy named J.R., it was great for ratings.
“Marginal” is an extremely kind word for Thursday night’s officiating. If there’s one team in NBA history that doesn’t need any breaks from the refs, it’s Golden State. Aside from their historically deep and talented roster, their key players are all lights-out from the FT line, which means any questionable call sending KD, Curry or Thompson to the line is pretty much an automatic 2 (or 3) points. Had Game 1’s rocky officiating been limited to a couple second-half strip plays that went the Warriors’ way, I’d have little complaint, as missed calls are par for the course in any tight game. However, those calls going against Cleveland were an added reason why it was such an outrageous injustice to reverse the charge/block call on Durant on the basis of a bogus replay review. That was some 1972 Olympics-type shit. It reeked of the NBA putting its thumb on the scale. Just as J.R. Smith must redeem himself with a strong effort in the next game, so too must the officials. I’m not saying every close call should go to the Cavs, but in the unlikely event Cleveland’s still in the game late in the 4th quarter and there’s a 50/50 play involving LeBron and Durant, a “mascara” call would go a long way toward making this series look presentable.
High quality goods as always, Jamison and the Popwell Team.
This is not to your thesis, but has anyone pointed out: the fact that the Dubs may have gotten a win because of marginal officiating is almost as astonishing as Smith’s blunder?
It was a block, but it should not have been overturned.