Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: Ex-Cavs Assistant Finally Shares His Side of the J.R. Smith Soup Story

“For a long time, I refused to talk about the soup incident,” Damon Jones said.

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“For a long time, I refused to talk about the soup incident”

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been one year since J.R. Smith was suspended by the Cavaliers for throwing soup at assistant coach Damon Jones. (Chicken tortilla soup, it turned out.) That was back on March 1, 2018, and Jones and Smith have both kept their mouths shut about the incident—until now.

Jones, no longer with the Cavs, appeared on ESPN Radio’s “Jalen & Jacoby” on Monday to give his side of the story. 

“It was the bowl plus the soup,” Jones said. “And it was the first bowl out of the pot so it was hot as hell.”

Jones said he and Smith didn’t speak for about three months, but that’s inaccurate. He said the reconciliation came in Philadelphia after the second half of a back-to-back, which would have been on April 6. 

While host David Jacoby pressed Jones on all the picayune details of the incident, we still don’t know what sparked the argument that led to the soup throwing. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the environment around the Cavaliers was toxic last year, which makes it all the more impressive that they made it to the Finals and not at all surprising that they blew it all up after LeBron left. 

ESPN really botched this

Remember in 2016 when the men’s tournament bracket leaked during the selection show? ESPN messed up yesterday’s reveal of the women’s bracket even worse. 

The whole thing was inadvertently broadcast on ESPNU more than three hours before the bracket was supposed to be revealed. ESPN apologized but several schools had to cancel their watch parties because the reveal show was suddenly moved up two hours. 

Isaiah Thomas played pickup with some random fans

Former Celtics star Isaiah Thomas played in Boston last night for the first time since being traded. Actually, he played on Sunday night, just not in an NBA game.

Before leaving Denver, Thomas put out a call on Twitter looking to get some action in Boston. 

One fan suggested he come by Emerson College downtown, and Thomas did. 

“I was lucky enough to be on his team and I had an assist from him on one of my two baskets and I got to assist him on one of his baskets,” Emerson freshman Jeremy Guerin told the Boston Globe. “He was ridiculously down to earth.”

Thomas finally got the tribute he deserved in Boston

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Are you serious, Ichiro?

The miss, and then the block

I can’t stop watching this

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Minor League Baseball is doing its most fun promotion again

(Click here for the full thread.)

Normal shot for Steph

OMG STEPH!! pic.twitter.com/Rh4yo9mwh4

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 19, 2019

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I love this

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It’s even better with the sound

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This video about toasters is a lot funnier than I thought

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.