The most painful moment of the 2016 NBA Finals so far happened after Game 3.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith took the podium Wednesday night after the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 120-90 to avoid a 3-0 series hole. Awkwardness soon ensued, as a reporter asked an oddly phrased question that left the Cavs trio looking puzzled.
“The Cavaliers have effectively frozen the pond for the Splash Brothers during the first three games of The Finals,” the reporter said before a brief pause. “What are you doing differently? How are you keeping them from getting to their spots, getting open looks, and how do you plan to maintain that momentum in Game 4 on Friday night?”
To be fair, the reporter was just doing his job. In fact, the questioning wasn’t bad at all, as the information he was seeking to obtain is rather important in the context of this NBA Finals. The problem was the whole “frozen the pond” thing clearly didn’t land.
Sure, we get it. He was metaphorically pointing out that the Cavs have done a good job containing Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the first three games of the series. James, Irving, Smith completely no-sold the reporter’s witty remark, though.
The end result was cringeworthy.
