BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…May 31, 2018:
Cleveland superstar LeBron James scores 51 points, the most in the NBA Finals in 25 years. But he didn’t celebrate it. It just became the most points ever scored in a Finals loss, as the Cavaliers fell 124-114 in overtime to the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 in Oakland. It was James’ eighth game of 40-plus points during that year’s playoffs, tying the L.A. Lakers’ Jerry West in 1965 for the most ever in a single postseason. For the Warriors, though, it was the 18th win in their last 19 home playoff games.
The night was bizarre, as officials overturned a final-minute charge on James that had been called on the Warriors’ Kevin Durant. Instead Durant went to the line to sink two free throws that tied the game. Then the Cavs’ J.R. Smith apparently forgot the score was tied, dribbling out most of the final five seconds of regulation instead of attacking. The Warriors dominated OT. After Game 1, James suffered a bone contusion in his hand when he punched a whiteboard in the Cavaliers' locker room. He kept it a secret the rest of the series.
It can be argued that the Cavaliers never recovered from that bewildering Game 1 ending. They fell to the Warriors in a four-game sweep, the first in the NBA Finals in 11 years, with an average margin of 15.0 points. James, playing in his eighth Finals, was on the short end of both of those 4-0 results. Durant was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year. LeBron, Ohio’s favorite son, would leave Cleveland that summer to join the L.A. Lakers.
That Golden State-Cleveland series marked the end of a four-year stretch that saw the Warriors and Cavs face off in the NBA Finals each year. It was the first time that has ever happened in major North American pro sports. Golden State won three of them, but the other one will stick in the Warriors’ collective craw forever. That was in 2016, when Cleveland became the first and only team in history to rally from a three games-to-one and win the championship. James has won one NBA title since, with the Lakers in 2020 during the COVID year. That trophy wasn’t hoisted until October 11.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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