Gregory Shamus/Getty Images By now you've seen the memes, tweets and lists that place the Game 1 blunder by Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard JR Smith among the worst mistakes in NBA history. Smith, of course, grabbed an offensive rebound and dribbled out the remaining 4.5 seconds of regulation in the first game of the NBA Finals, seemingly thinking his Cavs were ahead instead of locked in a 107-107 tie with the Golden State Warriors. While head coach Tyronn Lue said after the game that Smith thought Cleveland was up by one, Smith's explanation was quite different. "It was a tie ballgame, and we had a timeout," he told reporters. "I tried to get enough space because, obviously, KD (Kevin Durant) was standing right there. I tried to get enough space to bring it out to maybe get a shot off. And then I looked over at Bron (LeBron James), and he looked like he was trying to call a timeout. So I stopped. And then the game was over." The backlash from fans, media members and current NBA players was incredible. From Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins to CJ McCollum and even Dirk Nowitzki, Smith's now infamous faux pas sent shock waves through his peers. For some teams, benching the 32-year-old or cutting his minutes would seem the obvious move. How can a player, in the biggest moment of the season, be trusted with this kind of decision-making moving forward? Especially one who already got suspended by his team for throwing a bowl of soup at a coach earlier this season? Video Play Button Videos you might like Despite what happened at the end of Game 1 (and the whole soup thing), the Cavaliers can't afford to turn their backs on Smith. At his best, he's an athletic, 6'6" shooting guard whom Lue has previously described as the team's best perimeter defender. He's capable of heating up from deep like few others in the league can, actively seeking contested shots and difficult situations. At his worst, well, we've already seen what happens. His play may have been the backbreaker for the Cavs, but if Kevin Love, Jordan Clarkson and Jeff Green shoot better than 2-of-17 from three (11.8 percent), or if George Hill makes the second free throw, or if the referees rule a charge on Kevin Durant, or if one of 100 things in the game goes differently, that situation never presents itself. For the Cavs to have any chance of upsetting the Warriors, they need Smith to produce on both sides of the ball. Their only other options at shooting guard are 37-year-old Kyle Korver and Rodney Hood, who Lue chose not to play in five of the past six games. Hood may get some run in this series, but he's been awful nearly all postseason. This leaves Smith, who's become one of Lue's biggest fixtures in the rotation. He's second on the Cavaliers in minutes these playoffs with 32.4 per game—more than anyone outside of James. Jeff Haynes/Getty Images Cleveland has also been 3.3 points per 100 possessions better with Smith on the floor this postseason, a better mark than Love (plus-0.5), Tristan Thompson (minus-1.6) and Green (minus-1.6). Korver has been great (plus-12.0), but the thought of having him guard a member of the Warriors backcourt for extended minutes is terrifying. Lue could go with Hood or Clarkson, but the team has basically combusted with either of them in (minus-13.8 and minus-27.9 on/off ratings, respectively). Lue has no choice but to stick with Smith, a decision he confirmed during a conference call Friday. "(Smith's) going to start. And no, I haven't lost confidence," Lue said. "JR can shake off anything, and when everybody tends to count JR out, that's when he comes through. So he's definitely going to start again. He's a big part of what we do. That last play is over, it's behind us and now we've got to move on." Since Cleveland looks to switch almost everything on defense, Smith's 6'6", 225-pound frame is ideal. He's quick enough to keep players like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson honest on the perimeter and has the muscle to body up Kevin Durant to keep him from getting into the paint. Opponents this postseason are shooting a measly 27.4 percent from outside 15 feet with Smith as the primary defender, a mark that's down 12.2 percent from their normal averages, per NBA.com. Curry, Thompson, Durant and Draymond Green were just 3-of-10 from the field and 2-of-6 from deep in Game 1 when guarded by Smith. If James continues to commandeer the ball as he did nearly all second half, he'll need catch-and-shoot guys around him who can get quality looks with little time or air space. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images Smith excels at both, knocking down 39.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot opportunities this postseason and making more of his attempts in tight coverage (defender within 2-4 feet, 36.4 percent) than when considered open (4-6 feet, 31.6 percent), per NBA.com. There's also a recent history of success against these Warriors. In 2016, Smith made back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter of Game 7 to help kill what looked like an insurmountable Golden State run. Smith's excellent defense of Andre Iguodala at the rim made it possible for James to chase down Iguodala for one of the most famous rejections in NBA history, ultimately leading to the Cavaliers' first championship. Last season, Smith led the Cavs in three-pointers (18) and three-point percentage (58.1) while chipping in 11.8 points in five Finals games. Now, there's no more Kyrie Irving on this team. No hope of Isaiah Thomas making a comeback. Heck, even Dwyane Wade would have helped at this point. Instead, Smith, the team's third-leading scorer in the opening contest, needs to produce. An emotional person at heart, there's no doubt he's taken the loss and his mental lapse harder than anyone. Instead of abandoning him now, Cleveland must embrace Smith and know that one hot shooting game can help heal all previous wounds. "I would never give up on JR," James told reporters after Game 1. The rest of the Cavaliers shouldn't either. Greg Swartz covers the Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA for Bleacher Report. Stats provided by NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.<doc-sep>An NBA fable: LeBron James needed to cross a river to win an NBA championship, and as he got to the bank, J.R. Smith approached him. “LeBron, listen,” J.R. said. “I just sent a DM to a girl on the other side of this river. Can you carry me across?” The NBA Playoffs Check out The Ringer’s coverage of the 2018 NBA playoffs LeBron was skeptical. “Why should I trust you? Getting across this river is serious business, and you’re the dude who got suspended for throwing soup at a coach and got fined for tweeting a butt and for repeatedly trying to untie opponents’ shoelaces. I’m worried you’ll sting me too. And besides, I’m already carrying 13 other Cavaliers on my back—why should I add you?” “Thanks,” J.R. said, latching onto LeBron as he dove into the river. And in the closing seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Smith did something horrendously stupid that would drown the whole team: What a microcosm of James’s Cleveland tenure. The greatest basketball player alive played one of his greatest games Thursday night, scoring 49 points in regulation, giving his team a chance to score a game-winning bucket. That performance was squandered by his teammates, one of whom literally seized the ball and ran away from the hoop instead of trying to score. Related Ranking Every Teammate LeBron James Has Ever Carried to the NBA Finals As Thursday night turned into Friday morning, the world tried to figure out exactly what J.R. Smith was thinking. The general consensus is that Smith thought the Cavs were ahead by one after George Hill’s first free throw, and he was trying to run out the clock. Smith, for his part, says he knew the score was tied and was trying to put the team in a position where they could call timeout. His logic fails for two reasons: One, Smith could have called a timeout anywhere and opted not to do so for the entirety of the play. Two, there is footage of Smith appearing to tell James he thought the Cavs were ahead, because unfortunately for J.R., these basketball games are filmed with cameras. Coach Tyronn Lue plainly said Smith thought the Cavs were ahead; James opted to end his media session when repeatedly asked by a reporter if he knew what Smith was thinking. We will probably never get a clean insight into the mind of J.R. Smith, which is probably for the best—who knows what’s floating around in there? But we can put his error into perspective: Did J.R. Smith just make the most critical mental mistake in basketball history? Here is a look at some other players who forgot what they were supposed to do in ways that cost their teams games. Derek Harper Smith is not the first player to sabotage his team in the playoffs by forgetting the score. In Game 4 of the 1984 Western Conference semifinals between the Mavericks and Lakers, Harper—then a rookie for Dallas, but already very much looking like the middle-aged man who would run point for the Knicks in the 1990s—gleefully dribbled out the final seconds of a tied game: Giving Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar extra time to win the game was a bad idea. The Mavs lost 122-115, and instead of tying the series at 2, they went on to lose 4-1. Harper held the ball for seven seconds, about twice as long as Smith, and never realized what he was doing was wrong; in fact, he jumped for joy after the buzzer expired, still believing that his team had won. Mavs fans eventually forgave Harper, though. The team retired his number earlier this season. Josh Howard Man, the Mavs have made some mistakes. During a pair of Dwyane Wade free throws in Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals, Howard looked to the bench and saw his coach, Avery Johnson, instructing the team to call a timeout. Howard should have understood what Johnson meant: After Wade’s free throws, call a timeout. Instead, Howard—who, in college, cost his Wake Forest team a game by calling a timeout it didn’t have—calmly turned to the officials and called the timeout immediately: The referees debated the situation for a while and decided to give Howard the timeout he called for. As they later explained to the press, Howard had called for the timeout not once, but twice. If Howard had waited until after the free throws, the Mavs would have been able to advance the ball past half court. Instead, he burnt their final TO in between Wade’s shots, forcing them to play the whole court. Perhaps he was hoping to ice Wade like an NFL kicker, but it didn’t work: Wade drilled the free throw, giving Miami a one-point lead. Trapped on the wrong end of the floor, the Mavs scrambled for a Devin Harris 50-footer. Dallas lost, one of three games in the series it dropped by three points or fewer. But at least Howard was trying to follow instructions, while Smith was doing whatever Smith felt like. Steve Kerr The coach of the Warriors seems wise now that he’s in charge of one of the best basketball teams of all time, but he messed up in his time, too. With the Knicks trailing by three with only seconds remaining in a Christmas Day game against the Bulls, Anthony Mason wildly hurled the ball as far as he could in hopes a Knick would get under it and hit a 3. There were no Knicks, just Kerr. Kerr could have caught the ball, or simply let it go out of bounds. Instead, he lightly tapped the ball directly to Hubert Davis of the Knicks, who happily drained a 3. It looks like the famous Valparaiso play for Bryce Drew in the NCAA tournament, except with a player on the wrong team helping the buzzer-beater happen. The Bulls won the game (and virtually every other meaningful game against the Knicks for a decade), so Kerr can be forgiven. Michael Ruffin This is, hands down, my favorite play in NBA history. We can’t accuse Ruffin of not knowing the game situation: He caught a Raptors desperation pass with about three seconds left, and, understanding that his Wizards had a three-point lead with three seconds remaining, hurled the ball into the air. He just overestimated his ability to throw a basketball really high. Instead of flying into the rafters until the clock expired, Ruffin’s jubilant hurl fell to the court with enough time for Morris Peterson to catch it and drill a 3. Of course, the Raptors won in overtime. The stakes were significantly lower here than they were for Smith, since this was just a random regular-season contest in 2007, but I firmly believe that the Raptors should have been awarded the NBA championship after this game. DeAndre Jordan Perhaps the best part of Smith’s blunder was not the play itself, but the instameme born from LeBron furiously gesturing to Smith that he should have done something—shoot, call a timeout, ANYTHING. It is surpassed in its disdain and frustration by only Chris Paul’s jumping, pointing, and screaming fit when Jordan opted to stand motionless with the ball in his hands directly under the basket with under a second remaining in a 2015 game: Jordan’s mistake was somewhat understandable: At the start of the possession, the Clippers had the ball with 2.8 seconds remaining in the game and 1.7 on the shot clock. After the shot-clock buzzer rang, Jordan assumed the game was over. But directly after a timeout, he probably should have known he was working with two clocks. Again, this was just a regular-season game. But it’s probably the moment Paul realized even he couldn’t make the Clippers anything but the Clippers. Fred Brown The first great moment of Michael Jordan’s career might have been forgotten if not for Brown. After Jordan hit a 17-footer to give North Carolina a one-point lead over Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA championship game, Brown brought the ball upcourt and faked a pass to a cutting Sleepy Floyd that caused UNC’s James Worthy to practically jump out of his shoes.<doc-sep>OAKLAND, Calif. -- Even before his Game 1 blunder that has captivated the basketball world for the past two days, Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith was known as quite a character. Whether negative, positive or just plain weird, Smith certainly stays in the headlines due to his behavior both on and off the court. On Saturday, leading up to Sunday's Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Warriors, a reporter asked Smith how much pressure he and his teammates feel playing alongside LeBron James, one of the greatest of all time. Smith's answer was poignant and honest, but he had to throw in a little J.R. flair at the end. "It's a lot of pressure. Not for myself or my teammates, but just playing on his team," Smith said. "It's almost -- it's a blessing and -- it's a gift and a curse. You play on his team, and you're playing with the best player in the world and you get to witness some great historic things and be a part of it. Then, on the other side, if you don't help that person win, they're looking at you too. "So it's a lot of pressure, depending on how you look at it. But I tell him all the time he has the opportunity to play with me as well." Game. Set. Match. Mr. Smith. Clearly being a little tongue-in-cheek, Smith delivered the type of line we've come to expect from a player who, over the course of his career, has consistently exhibited confidence perhaps far beyond his talent level. For better or worse, that confidence has gotten him to where he is today -- with a chance to earn a second NBA title in four years as one of the main characters in The LeBron Show.<doc-sep>
OAKLAND, Calif. — If the scorn and derision of the basketball world had to come down on one Cleveland Cavalier, J.R. Smith is glad it was him. Smith has been scrutinized and studied, rapped and pilloried since his brain freeze moment near the end of regulation of Game 1. With the score tied, Smith grabbed the rebound of a missed free throw by teammate George Hill — and promptly dribbled away the clock. Gentlemen, start your contempt engines. “I told somebody right after the game I’m glad it happened to me as opposed to anybody else on my team,” Smith said. “To be in that situation is tough and it’s not a situation everybody can handle so I’m glad it happened to me.” After the Cavs lost, 124-114, to the Warriors in overtime Thursday, Smith maintained he knew the score was tied and was waiting for someone to call a timeout. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, obviously the last 24 hours and however many minutes since the game was over, I can’t say I was sure of anything at that point,” Smith said Saturday. Video appeared to show Smith telling teammate LeBron James he thought the Cavs were ahead at the time. “I might have said that,” Smith said. “I’m not sure but I might have.” Immediately, Smith was roasted on social media. He became linked to the greatest miscues in sports history, was likely viewed as the captain of the “Titanic.” Smith said his makeup allows him to endure the misery and criticism. “That’s pretty much who I’ve been my whole life,” Smith said. “I’ve always been the one guy who’s the butt of the jokes or the one guy that does something crazy that everybody has to look at. And then I just come back and be myself and play the next day. I don’t really dwell on things too much. It’s been like that my whole life and that’s the way it looks like it’s going to continue to be. So I’ve just got to go out there and be me.” For which the Twitter world says, thanks. Teammates, however, have rallied behind him. “He’s always found a way to … catch fire in games or play both sides of the ball or do things that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet or make a miraculous play,” Kevin Love said. “We know what he’s capable of. He knows what he’s capable of.” One guy especially who has had his back has been James, not a bad guy to have on your side. He said Saturday he is confident Smith will rebound from the mess. “J.R.’s one of the most resilient guys I’ve ever been around,” James said. “He took that loss as hard as anybody the other night, just [as hard] as anybody on the team. But one thing about J.R., he has an uncanny ability to bounce back and I think people have seen that throughout our postseason runs. “If he hasn’t played well or played to his ability, how he should have played, the next game he comes out and shoots the ball extremely well. Just very locked in. For me I don’t think I need to say anything to J.R.,” James said. “J.R. knows what I expect out of him and he expects things out of me.” Of course, it is tough to meet James’ standards. But Smith sort of turned that around. “There’s a lot of pressure … for myself and teammates just playing on his team,” Smith said. “It’s almost a blessing, a gift, and a curse. You get to play on his team and play with the best player in the world and you get to witness some great historic things and be a part of it. Then the other side, if you don’t help that person win they’re looking at you, too. So it’s a lot of pressure.” So how does he deal with it? “I tell him all the time he has the opportunity to play with me as well,” Smith said.