JR Smith is still blaming everyone but himself for 2018

JR Smith proves to be an unreliable narrator

The Cleveland Cavaliers won an NBA Championship in 2016 with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love leading the way. On that team was three-point shooting specialist JR Smith. He was a major part of the team during that stretch of NBA Championships, and while most players have good moments to call on from that stretch, Smith became infamous for his blunder in the 2018 NBA Finals.

Most NBA fans know the moment well. As the dying seconds of the fourth quarter ticked away, the Cavs had the ball and were trying to put the game away before overtime. Smith got an offensive rebound from a missed free-throw and instead of putting it back up or kicking it out to a teammate for a better opportunity, Smith dribbled out of the play and let the clock expire; much to James’ aggravated annoyance. It remains one of the most boneheaded plays in NBA history.

He’s since moved on, taking advantage of his collegiate eligibility and earning a spot on the North Carolina A&T golf team. He’s trying to move on, and live a good life and we applaud him for bettering himself.

The moment in 2018 was a hard one to live down. In fact, it’s one that’s not hard to understand how it happened. People get lost in the moment all the time. There’s no shame in it. Yet, to not take responsibility when it clearly all falls on you, that’s where fans get upset.

JR Smith is blaming everyone else for his Finals gaffe

Smith went on the I Am Athlete show and talked about the moment. He surprised a lot of Cavalier fans by throwing everyone else under the bus for the moment.

"It was a island because none of the coaches said s—.It was like nobody wanted to take responsibility for it, so you left me with it. You know what I’m saying? And it’s like, okay, cool. If that’s the way you want to play it, we can’t call ourselves a real team."

Smith went through reason after reason why it wasn’t on him for the failure to secure the game-one victory. From prior experience in similar situations to Kevin Durant would’ve blocked his shot, to he knew they had a timeout, and all that was meant to take the pressure off of Smith for that moment.

He really wanted people to know that he told everyone in the last time out prior, that they had a timeout. He went into details about that. Heading into the free-throws by George Hill, which preceded the rebound, Smith made sure to tell everyone, especially James, that he knew they had a time out left. Yet, he didn’t call a timeout when he got the rebound. So what’s the point in telling people how you were the one reminding them of the timeout when you didn’t even remember to call it?

In his retelling of the event, where he really makes sure everyone understands his rationale in the moment, and why he did what he did, he still told them exactly what we all knew.

He just wasn’t paying attention.

"At the time, I did think we were up one. …I wasn’t paying attention."

If that’s all he said, we wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be writing this. We knew he wasn’t paying attention. We saw it. He wasn’t paying attention in the biggest game of his career.

Yet, to make up excuse after excuse is just not helping. Smith will always have this moment attached to his career, unfair or not, and the least he could do is own up to it.