LeBron walks out of postgame presser after reporter pushes his buttons on teammate's costly mishap
LeBron James did all he could to lift the Cavs to what would have been a huge upset over the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
But he couldn’t get into the head of his teammate J.R. Smith and tell him what to do in the most crucial moment of the game.
With 4.7 seconds left in regulation, Cavs guard George Hill missed a free throw that would have put the Cavs up 108-107. Somehow, Smith managed to grab the offensive rebound over the Warriors’ Kevin Durant.
However, instead of putting it back up, Smith dribbled the ball back out to near the half-court line as if he were running out the clock. The game ended up going to overtime tied 107-107.
Smith said he knew the game was tied and dribbled the ball out because he thought the team was going to call a timeout.
But his coach, Ty Lue, said Smith didn’t know the score and thought the Cavs were up by one.
So what did James think? His frustrations over spilled over in the postgame news conference when he was asked repeatedly about Smith’s blunder.
Because of the conflicting stories regarding what happened from Smith and Lue, James was asked by one reporter what Smith had told him.
“They asked me if I talked to J.R. about it. I said no already. I knew it was a tie game. We were down one. George Hill went up, he made the first one. We got the offensive rebound, you know, I thought we were all aware of what was going on. That’s my view. So I don’t know what J.R. was thinking,” James responded.
The reporter pressed, asking if he knew what Smith’s state of mind was on that last play in regulation.
“No, I don’t know his state of mind,” James said.
“Did you know if he knew the score?” the reporter asked again.
At that point, James had enough and walked out of the news conference.
On his way out, he told the media assembled in the room, “Be better tomorrow.”
LeBron James walked out of the postgame after questions about JR Smith. “Be better tomorrow.” pic.twitter.com/2Cb7nGJT8h
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) June 1, 2018
The Cavs, of course, lost by a score of 124-114 in overtime. James had 51 points — his career high in the playoffs — to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists. Game 2 is Sunday night in Oakland.
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