JR Smith Contradicts Ty Lue About Crunchtime Brain Fart

JR Smith sure appeared to think the Cavs were up when he was dribbling out at the end of regulation, but that’s not what he’s telling reporters in the postgame:

JR Smith: "I was trying to get enough to bring it out to get a shot off. I knew we were tied, I thought we were going to call timeout. If I thought we were ahead, I'd have held onto the ball and let them foul me."
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 1, 2018

However, in his postgame press conference, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said, “He thought it was over. He thought we were up one.”

Ty Lue responds to the late game events in Game 1.#GameTime pic.twitter.com/rnuWUFF8iK
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 1, 2018

This play is going to be remembered for a long, long time. I feel very bad for JR Smith, but it’s inconceivable that he would have dribbled out to where he did if he knew how much time was on the clock and that his team needed a bucket.