In Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, JR Smith forgot the score of the game and dribbled the ball out to the perimeter after grabbing an offensive rebound off of a George Hill missed free-throw. The game went into overtime, where the Warriors won, and Cavs superstar LeBron James was as angry as he's ever been in his NBA career.
As the Cavs headed to the locker room, James punched a whiteboard and suffered a bone contusion in his right hand. He played Games 2-4 of the NBA Finals with a broken hand, except no one on the Warriors knew about it, per Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report.
“No. We had no idea at all. That’s news to me,” one former Warriors player told B/R in 2019.
“That was never brought up in a meeting or among the players or coaches. That’s news to me so I know it wasn’t brought up. That’s tough to play like that. He didn’t have his hand taped up or anything, so that’s crazy.”
LeBron James and the Cavs got swept by the Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals. Game 4 of that series was James' final game with the Cavs, as he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018.
That JR Smith blunder wasted one of the best NBA performances from James. The King scored 51 points in Game 1 and shot 59.4 percent from the field.
James and Smith are teammates once again on the Lakers, so LeBron has clearly forgiven JR. The Lakers are up 1-0 on the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals.
It would be pretty special for James and Smith to win their second championship together considering what happened in the 2018 Finals.
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