X

NBA Finals Game 2 memes target the refs, and JR Smith, too

Game 2 goes to the Golden State Warriors, and no one forgot the Cleveland Cavaliers blunder that ended Game 1.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read

Cleveland Cavaliers guard JR Smith was still the target of Twitter memes during Sunday night's Game 2 of the NBA Finals, but this time, he wasn't alone. The officials also came in for their share of social media bashing.

Smith's confusion over the score as time ran out during Thursday night's Game 1 sent the game into overtime when he didn't take a quick shot. Fans couldn't wait to bury him in memes. One in particular, a photo of Smith's teammate LeBron James apparently gesturing at him in horror, continued to churn out new captions all weekend.

Game 2 wasn't any better for Cavs' fans, as the Golden State Warriors won 122-103 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Warriors point guard Steph Curry sank nine three-pointers, a Finals record, and combined with teammate Kevin Durant for 59 points on 40 shots.

But the officiating came in for a lot of heat, especially from Cavs' fans. An especially sore point involved Curry tripping James, who fell. No foul was called on Curry, but instead a technical foul was called on Cavaliers' coach Tyronn Lue for protesting the lack of a call.

Although some beg to differ.

James was poked in the right eye by Draymond Green of the Warriors during Game 1, and his eye is still disturbingly bloody, which led to plenty of Twitter users seeing red.

But some fans still aren't over JR Smith's Game 1 blunder and even three days later, the tweets are still funny.

More drama will certainly come in Game 3, which will be played Wednesday in Cleveland.

Follow the Money: This is how digital cash is changing the way we save, shop and work.

CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET's newsstand edition.