This story has been corrected to say Mill rang the ceremonial bell at the start of

J.R. Smith turned from villain to Warriors‘ fan favorite thanks to his memorable blunder.
Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers Sam Darnold Jersey , Smith was a nonfactor Sunday night after his late-game mistake in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
After he inexplicably dribbled out the clock at the end of regulation in a tied game, Smith was basically a nonfactor on a night LeBron James needed all the help he could get to keep up with Stephen Curry and the Warriors.
Smith made just 2 of 9 shots and didn’t make a single basket after the first quarter as the Cavaliers fell into an 0-2 series hole after a 122-103 defeat.
”Terrible,” Smith said of his performance. ”I have to shoot the ball better. I have to defend better.”
The game started with Smith getting loud cheers from the Warriors fans, who booed him mercilessly in Game 1 after Smith slipped and fell into Klay Thompson’s leg, sending the Warriors guard to the locker room briefly with an injury.
That sarcastic support continued all game long, with Smith getting serenaded with chants of ”M-V-P! M-V-P!” on a trip to the foul line in the first quarter.
”I’m always a person the fans like to talk to and heckle,” Smith said. ”I like it. I’d rather they do that than not acknowledge me at all. I appreciate that.”
Smith was a prominent figure in Game 1 for all the wrong reasons. He grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by George Hill in the final seconds of regulation with the game tied. Smith then dribbled toward midcourt as if he was running out the clock and thinking Cleveland had the lead. The Cavs couldn’t get off a shot and lost in overtime.
James and coach Tyronn Lue raved about Smith’s ability to bounce back from tough moments but that didn’t happen Sunday.
”Not too much affects JR. I don’t think so Authentic John Ross Jersey ,” Lue said. ”He made shots. He had some good looks he didn’t make, but throughout the course of the game I don’t he think he really got shots in a row to kind of get into a rhythm. So that was kind of tough on him. But we have confidence in JR, and he’s just got to continue taking his shots.”
The Cavs will need much more from Smith when the series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on Wednesday night if they are going to match their comeback from an 0-2 deficit that they accomplished in beating the Warriors for the title two years ago and in the Eastern Conference finals last month against Boston.
James was his typical brilliant self but was unable to match the 51-point scoring he had in the opener as the Warriors made a stronger effort to pick him up quicker to make him work for everything.
James, who played with a bloodshot left eye after getting poked by Draymond Green in Game 1, finished with 29 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. He made 10 of 20 shots from the field but was not nearly as efficient as he was the series opener.
”The eye has looked a lot better,” James said. ”My daughter doesn’t like the way I look right now. Yeah Andy Dalton Youth Jersey , she didn’t like the FaceTime that we had earlier. She was a little weirded out about it. But I’ll be fine. So everything’s good.”
The Cavs once again failed to take advantage of good looks from 3-point range that are apt to come with all the attention Golden State pays to James. They shot just 9 for 27 from long range and are at 35 percent for the series, a number that will need to improve if Cleveland wants to reverse the tide of the finals.
Smith has been one of the Cavs best options from 3-point range, but he was just 1 for 4 in this game.
—
Rapper Meek Mill walked out of prison Tuesday after Pennsylvania’s highest court ordered him freed while he appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions.
Following a five-month campaign by his supporters to get him out, the state Supreme Court directed a Philadelphia judge who had jailed him to immediately issue an order releasing him on unsecured bail.
Mill was sentenced in November to two to four years in prison for probation violations.
He was taken from the prison by helicopter to Philadelphia, where he rang the ceremonial bell at the start of Game 5 of the Philadelphia 76ers-Miami Heat playoff series.
”Welcome home Meek Mill,” said the game announcer to the rapper, who was sitting courtside next to actor Kevin Hart and Sixers co-owner Michael Rubin.
Before the game Billy Price Bengals Jersey , Mill visited privately with the Sixers in their locker room.
A team of lawyers and public relations consultants had waged an all-out battle to get him freed, leveling fierce criticism at the judge as a stream of high-powered figures and celebrities visited him in jail outside Philadelphia just hours before the Supreme Court ruling.
Mill issued a statement saying the past months had been ”a nightmare,” and thanked his many supporters and visitors, who included Rubin, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.
”Although I’m blessed to have the resources to fight this unjust situation, I understand that many people of color across the country don’t have that luxury and I plan to use my platform to shine a light on those issues P.J. Hall Youth Jersey ,” Mill said.
He said he would now focus his attention on getting his convictions overturned, and that he looks forward to resuming his music career.
Earlier this month, in a major victory for Mill, prosecutors said they agreed with his lawyers that he should get a new trial because of questions raised about the arresting officer. The now-retired officer was among a list of police officers the prosecutor’s office has sought to keep off the witness stand in cases across the city because of credibility questions.
A spokesman for District Attorney Larry Krasner said late Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s decision on Meek Mill’s release was consistent with the position taken by their office.
Mill’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, thanked the high court.
”Meek was unjustly convicted and should not have spent a single day in jail,” Tacopina said.
In an opinion earlier this month Mike McGlinchey Youth Jersey , Judge Genece Brinkley, who sent Mill to prison for the probation violations, strongly defended herself against accusations by the defense she was waging a vendetta against the rapper. She said the court ”has impartially and without prejudice presided over numerous proceedings in this matter since 2008.”
The Supreme Court denied a defense request to move the case to another judge, but said the presiding judge could opt to remove herself.
—
This story has been corrected to say Mill rang the ceremonial bell at the start of Game 5 of the Philadelphia 76ers-Miami Heat playoff series, not the start of the playoff series.
.