Don’t count out Cavs’ Smith just yet
The New York media has had a field day with this postseason. It has been quite a chuckle to see three former Knicks, freed from the raging incompetence of Jim
Dolan’s operation, become the essence of Cleveland’s rotation alongside LeBron
James. We know Timofey
Mozgov is tearing up people on the offensive end — “one of the most underrated players in the league,” Draymond Green said. We’ve seen
Iman Shumpert give the Cavaliers a strong defensive effort and occasional scoring through the pain of a bruised shoulder.
As for J.R. Smith, we know he has been an outside-shooting disaster (7-for-28 from threepoint range) in these Finals. We understand the Cavaliers acquired him in the Shumpert deal only because the Knicks insisted, desperate to get his contract and disruptive nature out of town.
Here’s the thing, though: Smith can be the Cavs’ savior — in Sunday’s Game 5 and the rest of the way.
There are nights when you’d rather have Matthew Dellavedova, or your uncle Pete, taking big three-point shots. There also are nights when Smith lights it up
like Downtown ( Freddie Brown), Microwave
( Vinnie Johnson) and
Fall Back, Baby ( Dick
Barnett). He’s that good. Smith was vital to the Cavs’ sweeping Atlanta in the conference finals, often appearing to score at will, and as he told reporters at one point, “I’d rather take a contested shot than an open shot any day. It’s just kind of boring when you get open.”
Smith and James have had an off-court friendship for years, and LeBron didn’t want to hear about Smith’s unsavory reputation when the deal went down. “I’ll take care of it,” he told gener- al manager David Griffin, saying later, “I knew the kind of man he was, and knock-down shooter, and I didn’t really care what everybody else thought of him.”
James didn’t like hearing about the disconsolate Smith after his miserable Game 4 shooting night, using an obscenity to describe it in the Cavaliers’ locker room.
“I don’t care how many shots J.R. has missed,” James said at the team’s practice Saturday. “I don’t want his head to be down like it was. You can never allow someone from the media, the fans, the opposition or your family to ever see that you’re down. It doesn’t matter. He has to stay confident.”
It doesn’t quite have the ring of Game 7, but what’s the most memorable Game 5 in Warriors history? Probably the one that clinched the best-of-5 first-round matchup against Utah in 1987, a momentous 118113 upset of that Karl Malone-John Stockton team in Salt Lake City. Leading scorers: Joe Barry Carroll (24) and Sleepy Floyd (21).
Also: The 1973 conference semifinals against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Lucius Allen and the Milwaukee Bucks. It happened on the road, led by Rick Barry, Nate Thurmond, Clyde Lee and Cazzie Russell, and the Warriors won Game 6 to clinch the series (before losing to the Lakers in the conference finals). And the 1967 Finals against the Wilt Chamberlain-Hal Greer-Chet Walker 76ers, without question one of the greatest teams of all time. This was a tremendous road win led by Barry’s 36 points, with Thurmond and Tom Meschery adding 17 each, but Philadelphia clinched the title with a Game 6 win at the Cow Palace.
(The Warriors thought they had the 1976 Western Conference finals wrapped up with a Game 5 win against Phoenix in Oakland, but they lost the next two games, ending their hopes of back-to-back titles.)
Is Mark Jackson getting snarky again? It sure sounds like it, based on this comment from the second quarter of ABC’s Game 4 telecast, passed along by Bay Area Sports Guy: “I was reading a story earlier on Harrison Barnes. Great story. But he talked about how frustrated he was not starting last year, and he never bought in. It can hurt a basketball team when you don’t buy in. The same way it can propel a team when a star like Andre Iguodala, who’s had success, buys in and is willing to sacrifice. … Guys say they want to win, but the majority of them want to win on their terms.”
Gregg Popovich must be getting a kick out of Steve Kerr’s on-on-the fly adjustments in this series. Asked if Kerr struck the image of a budding coach during his days in San Antonio, Popovich said, “He wasn’t a guy to take notes. He was enjoying himself too much. He’s one of those guys, and I don’t say this lightly, he loves life, is able to enjoy the moment more than most. But you can just tell the way he played and interacted, he inherently understood the game. A lot of the better players don’t have a clue what it takes to win, to put together a whole program. He’d be coaching just by talking to teammates. You knew pretty quickly he’d be able to do this. He also commanded respect very quickly. He doesn’t play games, doesn’t blow smoke. He’s just a really good guy and he understands people.”
Cleveland took the lead in “fan experience” nonsense during Game 4, at which point (in the second quarter) one of the public-address announcers yelled, “This is no time to panic!” Hey, let’s go get ’em!
Oracle Arena could use a little work, though. At a quiet stage of Game 2, with the Warriors in a funk, the big scoreboard implored the fans to MAKE NOISE and nobody made a sound. Why would anyone? These fans lead the league in spontaneity, and they’ll make noise when they damn well please.
Some of the Warriors’ in-game entertainment works, particularly those groups of pre-teen kids dancing up a storm. Seriously, though: Is there anything more ridiculous than the sight of grown men waving gigantic flags as they prance in a circle?