LeBron James and JR Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers have a great love for each other, but at the end of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, that love turned into disappointment.
With the game tied, the Cavs had a chance to pull off a showstopping win, but JR Smith managed to dribble out the clock — sending the game into overtime. The Warriors went on to defeat the Cavs 124-114.
Smith claims he thought Cleveland was going to call a time-out with less than five seconds left, which is why he said he didn't take the game-winning shot.
JR Smith: "I 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."
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 1, 2018
For Clevelanders, this play is difficult to watch.
The play that decided Game 1. pic.twitter.com/e1UeOv57Rn
— ESPN (@espn) June 1, 2018
James was not happy. It's a moment that will go down in NBA history.
“We just left a rest stop! Why didn’t you go then?” pic.twitter.com/ExXXogeocs
— David Steele (@David_C_Steele) June 1, 2018
And the memes kept coming, and the internet went crazy.
when your mom is yelling at you for something your sibling did #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/ggk2bTaVfa
— Donaven 〽️ (@_nevanod) June 1, 2018
the accuracy of disappointment at its finest #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/hzBgw3uvlY
— cami (@WallStFlex) June 1, 2018
LeBron's postgame news conference came to an abrupt ending after he just couldn't take another silly question from a reporter asking about JR Smith's mistake.