The ending of Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals will always be a head-scratcher for us fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James’ broken hand after the game just piled on to that and former Cav Jose Calderon had more to add in relation to that.
The 2018 NBA Finals ended up being, on paper, a forgettable one, as the Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Golden State Warriors 4-0. As plenty of us Cavs fans would probably say, though, if the Cavaliers found a way to win Game 1 of that one, the series could’ve been much, much different.
The Cavs would lose in overtime in that Game 1, which was really unfortunate.
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J.R. Smith‘s boneheaded play of dribbling out the clock to the end of regulation after securing an offensive rebound on a missed George Hill free throw, when Smith could’ve had a high percentage shot attempt or at least passed it to say, LeBron James, is something that will always sting.
Smith reportedly did know at the time that the game was tied, and thought LeBron James or the team were going to try and call a timeout, but as ESPN’s Dave McMenamin also pointed out, it sure seemed as though Smith on the game’s ABC broadcast at the time essentially said that he “thought we were ahead,” (as in the Cavs).
Anyway, in that game, LeBron was unbelievable, as he had 51 points, to go with eight rebounds and eight assists, as indicated by Basketball Reference. The Cavaliers ultimately wasted that performance, however.
Plus, after the game, LeBron would go on to break his hand punching a board in frustration, as former Cleveland teammate Jose Calderon pointed out and detailed further on a recent episode of the “Full 48” podcast hosted by Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck (and h/t Cavaliers Nation’s Brad Sullivan). This was just another reminder of how awful the ending to that Game 1 was for us Cavs fans.
Calderon, recalling LeBron's frustration-punch in wake of 2018 Finals Game 1: "He just hit the board like he thought it was gonna be a little bit lighter than it was. The board didn’t bend." After that, "You could see (his hand) wasn’t right. … You could see in his game, too." https://t.co/26XcRnphwR
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) January 17, 2020
James, even after doing so, as the aforementioned Sullivan noted, “still averaged 28.3 points, 10.7 assists and 8.7 rebounds over the final three contests.”
Anyway, had the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off a Game 1 victory, I could have seen that being a six or seven-game series.
In Game 3, late heroics by Kevin Durant down the stretch spoiled what was a great 15-point effort off the bench from Rodney Hood, and despite the Cavs definitely being ahead enough to win in the closing minutes, Cleveland blew it and lost 110-102, as noted by Basketball Reference.
Moreover, LeBron breaking his hand after Game 1 was not ideal, obviously, but Smith’s brain fart (it was pretty clear it looked like he said he thought the Cavs were up on the broadcast) I’m sure was really hard to take for James and the team. Smith ended up throwing a pass to George Hill in the corner, which led to just a thrown-up shot that was deflected by Draymond Green that Hill didn’t get off, anyhow, as McMenamin hit on.
As Sullivan alluded to, James would then sign with the Los Angeles Lakers in unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2018. This season, with LeBron fully healthy and with plenty of pieces around him on the Lakers, L.A. is 33-8 and at the top of the Western Conference.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, meanwhile, are at the early stages of a full-rebuild predicated on getting pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman big minutes for their development, and the Wine and Gold are just 12-29 on the season.
Again, though, Calderon giving more detail on the James broken hand is just another reminder of how awful the ending to that 2018 Game 1 of the NBA Finals was for Cavs fans.