The most significant rivalry in basketball had its latest, mindbending drama in the early hours of this morning. For the fourth year running, the NBA finals feature Golden State and Cleveland, although it may be more accurate to say that the finals are being contested by Golden State and LeBron James.
Last night's Game 1 was bonkers, with Golden State winning 124-114 in overtime. That they got the chance to win it, however, owes to the stupidity of JR Smith. The Cavs' guard grabbed an offensive rebound with less than five seconds to go in front of the Warriors’ basket with the score tied....and he decided not to shoot. Then he pulled the ball out and killed the clock, not realising that the Cavs were level and not actually winning.
WOW. We're going to overtime. pic.twitter.com/1YNEniJo1d
— ESPN (@espn) June 1, 2018
Smith said after the game that he realised the Cavs were level, and " was trying to get enough to bring it out to get a shot off. I knew we were tied, I thought we were going to call timeout. If I thought we were ahead, I’d have held onto the ball and let them foul me.”
Whatever about his public expounding, Smith has a lot of explaining to do to LeBron James:
Lebron has just reason to be angry. The Cavs are the biggest finals outsiders in 20 years, but LeBron's 51-point masterclass brought them to the verge of a massive opening victory.
After the game, things remained tetchy, as LeBron stormed out of an interview when asked about Smith's decision.
Game 2 takes place on Sunday.
