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“JR Smith could’ve been high during the NBA 2018 Finals”: Joe Rogan and Erik Griffin suggested that the then-Cavs guard might have been high which led to LeBron James and co. losing Game 1 to the Warriors

Advait Jajodia
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“I think that JR Smith fumble was a weed situation”: Erik Griffin discusses on Joe Rogan’s podcast how the then-Cavs guard might’ve been high on weed during the faux pass during Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals

According to Erik Griffin, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, JR Smith could’ve been high on weed during his last-second blunder for the Cavaliers to lose Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals.

Back in 2018, JR Smith had one of the “what ifs” moments in modern NBA history. Many believe the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers could’ve actually won Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and could’ve potentially won the championship, if not for Smith’s last-second blunder.

For those of y’all who don’t know what happened on 31st May during the dying seconds of Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals – the Warriors and Cavaliers were all tied up with the score at 107 apiece with only 4.7 seconds left on the clock. Cavs guard George Hill was on the charity stripe attempting the crucial free throws. After bricking the first attempt, Hill missed the second free-throw too, however, JR Smith luckily got the offensive board.

Now, with merely 4 seconds on the clock, any player in their right mind would attempt a shot when they were right under the bucket. However, a “confused” Smith, who thought the Cavs were actually leading, decided to dribble it outside the perimeter only to realise that the score was tied.

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Unfortunately for Cleveland, the match went to OT where GSW managed to win the battle 124-114, comfortably winning Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, spoiling LeBron’s 51-point night.

“The JR Smith Game 1 fumble could’ve been a weed situation”: Erik Griffin on Joe Rogan’s podcast

As soon as Smith messed that play up, eventually the game too, fans went ruthless with the memes. Several notorious fans even nicknamed the sharpshooter – “Henny Smith”, presuming he was drunk on Hennessy while giving away the game.

Erik Griffin, the famous American comedian, was one of the many who believed that JR Smith might have been high on weed while the whole play disastrously went down.  On Joe Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Griffin said:

“Look at JR Smith. I think that was a weed situation. He did something really stupid. It was like 3-4 seconds left, they were a tie ball game. One of their other guys is on the free-throw line. He misses the free-throw JR Smith grabs the ball and instead of putting it up to win the game, he dribbles out because he thought that they were up. I’m not saying that he was on weed, but I’ve heard stories that he smokes a lot of weed.”

Here, have a look at the clip of Griffin and Rogan discussing the topic.

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Well, whether or not JR was high, drunk or not is something we might never know. All we know for sure is, had Smith known the score he would’ve surely attempted to hit the game-winner.

About the author

Advait Jajodia

Advait Jajodia

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Advait Jajodia, an NBA and Tennis journalist for The SportsRush, has had a passion for both sports for over a decade. His admiration for Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, and Rafael Nadal pushed him to gain a profound understanding of the sports. With a background as a multi-sport athlete, Advait uses his experience on the hardwood and the court to offer insightful analysis. Over three years of dedicated sports journalism has equipped the 22-year-old with a unique perspective, reflected in his prolific portfolio of 4,200+ articles.

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