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Everything Was Strange About Game 1 — Except The JR Smith Gaffe

OAKLAND, Calif. — So much for the boring NBA Finals. In Game 1 alone, we saw one of the biggest underdogs in recent memory nearly steal home-court advantage on the strength of a historic performance. But now, after one of the more clueless plays in recent memory — and a separate, highly controversial foul reversal […]

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Six Key Stats On The Warriors vs. Cavs Re-Re-Rematch

Last summer, we speculated that the NBA was getting more interesting, if not more competitive. That premise ended up mostly holding true this season: Although it’s Cleveland and Golden State in the NBA Finals once again, their fourth consecutive rendezvous was also nearly called off. The Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics helped make the Warriors […]

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J.R. Smith’s Defense Is Upside Down

CLEVELAND — It was about this time two years ago when Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith graced us with a quote that summed up his career better than any other. “I’d rather take a contested shot than an open shot any day. … It’s kind of boring when you take open shots,” Smith told ESPN’s Cavs […]

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J.R. Smith’s Defense Is Upside Down

CLEVELAND — It was about this time two years ago when Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith graced us with a quote that summed up his career better than any other. “I’d rather take a contested shot than an open shot any day. … It’s kind of boring when you take open shots,” Smith told ESPN’s Cavs […]

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Where This Year’s Cavs Rank Among LeBron’s NBA Finals Supporting Casts

The signature event of LeBron James’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers was probably his 48-point outburst against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 the 2007 Eastern Conference finals. His performance in that game said everything about the team James carried to the NBA Finals that year. In a game that was 3.1 times as important as the […]

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