"The Stack" 6-1-18
I thought we were ahead. J.R. Smith committed one of the most boneheaded plays you will ever see in game one of the NBA Finals that played a huge role in the Cavs losing the game. LeBron James was not pleased.
The Stack is back on this Friday and we only have one thing to discuss and I am guessing you know what we will be talking about. With all due respect to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brian Colangelo Twitter fiasco, it’s all about the NBA Finals game one and man is there a lot to talk about. I won’t be expanding on everything (that would take a really long time), but let’s get to some reaction to what happened Thursday night at Oracle Arena in the Bay Area in “the stack” for today, Friday, June 1st:
Warriors thwart Cavs thanks to JR’s boneheaded play
Where do we start with this game? Should we discuss the Golden State Warriors’ slow start and overall what I would deem a pretty lackadaisical performance? It seems like we have seen this from the team this postseason. Would like to see the killer instinct from this team. But no, we won’t discuss that. How do we not discuss LeBron James’ 51 point effort. He was absolutely incredible. Not even Skip Bayless can criticize him right? He did, but he did give LeBron some kudos to a degree. There is no doubt that what James did was absolutely sensational. He started out hot and played well the entire game.
Unfortunately, it was a play involving James that is generating plenty of talk today (though not the majority of the discussion). Late in the game with the Cavs up 104-102, Kevin Durant was driving in the lane and I can’t remember who it was (Tristan Thompson? No), anyway LeBron comes over to try and draw the charge and he was clearly outside the restricted area when Durant drove into him. Whistles. One ref takes a moment and finally calls a charge on Durant. The other official wasn’t as confident. The NBA now I guess has this new rule that allows the officials to review a call like block-charge within what, the last two minutes of a game? Looking at the replay I clearly thought it was a blocking foul. LeBron is sliding over with his right foot and he is turned sideways. I thought the Warriors were going to get hosed. The announcers and Steve Javie, a former NBA official, thought the call should remain a charge. The officials got on the line with the NBA officiating crew in Sacaucus, New Jersey, and reversed the call. The Cavaliers were furious. I understand that in that sort of situation that that sort of call plays so heavily into the game, but I think the right call was made. At the end of the day though, it is a judgement call. But I think the officials made the right call.
No though, that isn’t what most people are talking about though. With the game tied 107-107 with 4.7 seconds left to go, George Hill missed the second free throw and J.R. Smith got the offensive rebound and inexplicably ran towards half court instead of trying to put a shot up or pass to LeBron for a game-winning shot. Nope. By the time he made a pass there was under a second left and the shot that the Cavs got up would not have counted. Smith had to have thought the game was tied. What other reasoning would he have for doing what he did? He had a brain meltdown. A brain fart. A moment of cloudiness. However you want to define it, Smith made one of the biggest blunders in basketball history (is that overstating it a bit? Maybe). You have to know the situation there. Smith has done dumb things in the past, but this one takes the cake by a mile. LeBron was clearly frustrated at the with Smith and the Cavs could not recover in overtime. The Warriors won 124-114, but not before a little skirmish took place with Tristan Thompson and Draymond Green. Oh and Kevin Love made his way onto the court from the bench area during the skirmish which could result in a suspension. That is the last thing Cavaliers fans want to hear. At the end of the day, if Hill makes the free throw, we aren’t talking about the reverse call of the charge to the block and we aren’t talking about Smith. Smith during the postgame locker room access said he knew the game was tied and he was running around and tried to get a time out. He is a boldface liar. He is trying to save face. It won’t happen. The Cavs had a chance to steal game one and give themselves a chance in this series. What transpired thanks to J.R. Smith has most likely doomed them in this series. How can they recover? LeBron is beyond furious. Head coach Tyronn Lue is pissed. What the hell was that J.R.? Game two is Sunday night (8 PM ET ABC). Doubtful that the rest of the series will be as juicy as what happened in game one.
Coming up Monday: Stanley Cup Final game three reaction, NBA Finals game two reaction and more.
