Lebron James just had the moment where he realized that all his effort is for nothing. Not only did his team lose spectacularly, but it was his team’s fault. Not his. He called for the ball when it happened. Instead things went the other way.
This is going to be a rant. It already is.
The NBA finals were a joke to begin with. This was David vs. Goliath’s entire family. There are no less than 4 current all stars on the Warriors starting lineup. Any one of them can take over a game. two of them are in the top 5 in the league. So to see Lebron’s Cavs with a tie and a chance to go up by a free throw with 4.7 on the clock was amazing. Lebron had already scored 50 points, so he did his part. All his team had to do was either hit a free throw or grab a rebound and either put it back up or get fouled. JR Smith did neither. What he did do was dribble around until the clock ran out, forcing overtime. Why? I have no earthly idea. Apparently he didn’t know they were tied. Apparently he was dribbling to half court to call a timeout. He’s said both reasons, though the first was said in the heat of the moment and the second makes absolutely no sense. None of this does. How a team with (let’s be real) mediocre talent + the world’s greatest gets to a tie in the finals ON THE ROAD only to lose to nonsense is beyond me. JR’s gaff is unforgivable, but there were other issues at play.
Ask Houston about how the refs call games in GS. At one point they called a charge on Kevin Durant, went to the video to see if Lebron was inside the circle (which it was evident before they even went to film that he wasn’t) and decided to take away the call and call him for a foul instead. That resulted in a 3 point turn around which led to the scenario where JR Smith acted a fool. In other words, the refs clearly and egregiously handed the Warriors a win when the team was against the ropes. It was like a boxing ref stepping in because a fighter was actually getting hit. Utter nonsense.
I’m about done with this noise. I’m about done with this blog for today. One wish list item though: Best case scenario: Klay Thompson and Lebron James walk away from their teams to join forced in NYC and win three straight before both retire in style. This seems unlikely, but the combo of those two with Porzingis would be lethal. Just find two big men to board and clear the lane.