JR Smith says this loss hurt more than Game 1 defeat

The Cleveland Cavaliers fell into an 0-3 hole with a loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, and JR Smith offered an interesting take afterwards.

Following the 110-102 defeat at home in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Smith said that this loss was tougher than the one that the Cavs suffered in Game 1.

JR Smith says this loss was tougher than Game 1 pic.twitter.com/lrhOfwTg2p

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 7, 2018

“I think that this one hurts more because it’s at home,” said the former Sixth Man of the Year. “We had a lot of lapses on the defensive end, trying to switch, guys getting layups and dunks. I think my man had like three or four of those. So I think this one takes the cake for sure.”

While losses in front of your home crowd are indeed a lot harder to stomach in general, it’s hard not to see Smith’s comments here as a cover of sorts for the all-time blunder that he committed to directly result in that Game 1 loss. The Cavs should have defended their home court on Wednesday, sure. But had they gotten the win in the series opener, they could have entered this game in the driver’s seat instead of already being down 0-2 and now being down 0-3.