Credit: Screenshot
Credit Screenshot

Jose Manuel Calderon, the legendary Spanish player, participated in a video of YouTube channel Drafteados, where one of the main topics was Cleveland Cavalier's J.R. Smith mistake in Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors in 2018 NBA Finals.

Free throws this season

76%
16,8
Points made: 16,8
Accuracy: 76,2%
Place in standings: 18
Record max: 29
Record min: 6
Most made FTs: Darius Garland

With 4.7 seconds left and game tied at 107, George Hill missed the free throw and J.R. grabbed the rebound. To everyone's surprise, even his defenders, he didn't shoot, let the clock run down and made a last-second pass. LeBron was desperate because Smith looked completely disoriented.

Calderon tried to explain what happened, although nobody really knows until now.

"At that moment Smith thought that they were up by one instead of a tied score. Because if not, the logical thing to do would be to shoot when you get the rebound," Calderon said.

"After that, in the timeout, nobody knew what to do. We looked at each other thinking what happened here, we didn't believe it. Nobody understood. We were in shock," Spaniard said. "Everyone left disappointed. Not because of the play, but because of the missed opportunity. That game would have changed things a lot. That's when we lost the playoffs, of course."

But why would they lose the playoffs if it was the first game? There's an explanation. LeBron, after the overtime loss, couldn't hold his anger.

"We got to the locker room and there was a white board. LeBron punched it because of monumental anger. He broke his hand, although people found out much later," former Cavs point guard revealed. 

"In the following games, he felt he was sidelined and almost couldn't shoot from the perimeter because it hurt. Although the locker room made a pact not to say anything, the press found out after the third game. That would end up leading to a resounding 4-0 loss in the Finals," Calderon pointed out.

 

Comments:
We want to hear from you. Be the first to comment!
Thank you for reporting a comment

Add comment

We have the right to remove comments which are offensive, contains abusive language, or violates other rules of the website