The Cleveland Cavaliers came oh-so-close to stealing Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena on Thursday. LeBron James put forth a performance as preposterous as anything he has done in the playoffs, finishing with 51 points on 19-for-32 shooting, plus eight assists and eight rebounds. The Golden State Warriors "got lucky," in the words of coach Steve Kerr, as J.R. Smith essentially dribbled the clock out at the end of the fourth quarter with the game tied.
The post-game press conferences featured way more questions about Smith's brain fart, a "controversial" (but correct) blocking foul called on James in crunch time and an end-of-game kerfuffle involving Tristan Thompson than about how well Cleveland played. The enormous underdog played the defending champs to a draw in regulation and should enter Game 2 with the confidence that it can shock the world.
That is, of course, if the Cavs can even put the series opener behind them.
It is only human to be frustrated by the way things turned out. "Tonight we played as well as we played all postseason," James said, adding that they "just had some plays taken away from us." Asked directly about his block-charge, he said that he "thought I read that play just as well as I've read any play in my career defensively."
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue went even further, claiming that there has never in NBA history been a block-charge call reversed in a similar scenario. The replay review was triggered by the question of whether or not James was in the restricted area. James was not, but the referees determined that he was not in legal guarding position. (Lue was wrong; it might be unusual, but this wasn't a first and the refs did what they were supposed to do.) Even when praising James' production, Lue circled back to his grievance.
"It was epic," Lue said. "And he did enough to carry this team to a victory. And we just came up short. But this is LeBron James. That's who he is. It's why he's the best player in the world. He's been doing it for us all season. To do what he did tonight and come out robbed, it's just not right."
Plenty of Cleveland fans surely feel the same way. It is never comfortable to waste a huge game from a star player, let alone against a team like this, with stakes this high. It is unhelpful, though, to dwell on what went wrong. After all, Smith's blunder isn't inherently worse than Hill missing the free throw that kept the game tied in the first place, or any of Jordan Clarkson's low-percentage shot attempts in the first half. And even if you think James' blocking foul was a "huge play," as he described it, it could have been irrelevant had his team shot better than 27 percent from 3-point range.
James played a phenomenal game and the Cavs played an excellent one. Their margin for error against Golden State is small, and it is easy to imagine looking back on this game and saying they blew their best chance. In a worst-case scenario for Cleveland, it will be seen as a turning point, like the Toronto Raptors' many missed layups at the end of Game 1 of the second round against this same Cavs team. For the Raptors, it was as if they had some of their spirit stolen when they failed to finish the game strong. It should be noted, though, that their repeated references to that series of unfortunate events -- even after they were swept -- was a terrible look.
Cleveland can learn a lesson from that: Don't dwell on the foul call, the Smith goof or the confusing flagrant-2 called on Thompson. Don't allow any resentment to carry over into Sunday's Game 2. James has been doing this for long enough to know this already.
"We understand how difficult and how challenging this task is," James said. "You take it all the way throughout the night thinking about it and ways you could have been better and plays that could have happened that could have gone your way and didn't go your way or things you could have done, and you wake up tomorrow with a fresh mind and you move forward."
As anyone who has ever suffered a heartbreaking loss can tell you, that is easier said than done. It should help that the Cavs have James on their side, though, and they have shown the Warriors that they can hang.
"They have a guy who's playing basketball at a level that I'm not sure anybody's ever seen before, when you consider everything he's doing," Kerr said. "He's got a really good group of teammates around him, and they put a lot of pressure on you."
Kerr went on to say that it is going to be a "tough series." That could be true, but only if Cleveland refuses to make excuses and brings this type of effort again.
