Cavs support Smith
OAKLAND, Calif. — Two days later, there is still no clarity on what JR Smith knew when he grabbed that offensive rebound in the final seconds of regulation in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Not even in Smith’s own mind.
“I can’t say I was sure of anything at that point,” he said.
All he and the Cavaliers are sure of now is this: They’re down 1-0 to the Warriors, with Game 2 on Sunday night and Smith knowing he’s going to be booed, made fun of and mocked by the crowd at Oracle Arena.
Smith became one of the big Game 1 stories for all the wrong reasons.
He rebounded George Hill’s missed free throw with 4.7 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game and the score tied, then ran toward midcourt as if the Cavs were ahead and he was running out the clock. Instead, they wound up losing in overtime.
“He probably took that loss as hard as anybody,” Cavs star LeBron James said Saturday. “But one thing about JR, he has an uncanny ability to bounce back. I think people have seen that throughout our postseason runs, where he hasn’t played well or played to his ability, and then the next game he comes and shoots the ball extremely well.”
That bounce-back tendency for Smith will be tested now, perhaps as never before. This wasn’t just a gaffe; this was a huge gaffe in the NBA Finals with the game on the line. And in the immediate aftermath it appeared Smith said to James on the court that he thought the Cavs were leading — something Smith denied afterward.
“I might have said that,” he said. “Not sure, but I might have.”
To say Smith was the reason the Cavs lost Game 1 isn’t right or fair. There’s no guarantee they would have scored in those final seconds if Smith had done anything differently. Still, he was blamed. “I’m glad it happened to me as opposed to anybody else on my team,” Smith said. “To be in that situation is tough and it’s not a situation everybody can handle.”
Smith spent Friday in his hotel room for the most part, watching the Memorial, talking with Kyle Korver and visiting with his kids over FaceTime.
Smith knows he’s a punch line. He’s been there before.
“That’s pretty much who I’ve been my whole life,” said Smith, who bonded with a therapy dog earlier this season during a rough stretch. “I’ve always been the guy who’s the butt of the jokes or who does something crazy and everybody’s got to look at. And then I come back and play the next day.
“I don’t really dwell on things too much. It’s been like that my whole life.”
The Cavs have made clear that they’re not quitting on Smith.
“He’s going to start, and no, I haven’t lost confidence,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “JR can shake off anything, and when everybody tends to count JR out, that’s when he comes through.
“He’s a big part of what we do. That last play is over and now we’ve got to move on.”
The Cavs are 10-1 this season when Smith scores more than 15 points, 19-5 when he makes more than half his shot attempts and 20-9 when he makes at least three 3-pointers. Those are among the reasons Lue still has confidence in him.
“I’ve been playing like crap all year, and he’s stuck with me,” Smith said.