LeBron James’ Reaction to J.R. Smith’s Boneheaded Play Is Already an Epic Meme

It’s the image that will define Smith’s NBA career.

Adam K. Raymond

Jun 1, 2018

Poor J.R. Smith. The Cleveland Cavaliers guard, who has long had a reputation as one of the NBA’s most error-prone players, had career-defining screw-up in Thursday’s game one of the NBA Finals. In the event that you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

Smith went on to claim that he was trying to pull the ball out for another shot before time expired. “I knew we were tied,” Smith said. “It’s just, I thought we were going to take a timeout because I got the rebound.”

His coach, Tyronn Lue, later said Smith thought the Cavs were up, but he clarified that he hadn’t actually talked to him about it.

None of that matters at this point though. The Cavs lost. They’re now down 0-1, and could be without two key cogs in game two after a late game skirmish.

But even if this is the end for the 2017-18 Cavs, at least we have these wonderful memes of LeBron imploring Smith to shoot, or pass or do any damn thing but let the clock expire.