How do Cavaliers get back in series?
J.R. Smith reached out, placed his hands on Al Horford’s back and shoved Boston’s big man out of bounds. It was the only time Smith was on target.
Smith’s shoddy performance in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals — he missed all seven shots and committed a flagrant 1 foul in 27 forgettable minutes — underscored a startling disparity between Cleveland’s and Boston’s starting backcourts that allowed the Celtics to withstand a 42-point effort by LeBron James on Tuesday and take a 2-0 series lead.
Smith and point guard George Hill were outscored 41-3 by Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier, who were faster, hungrier and maybe tougher.
“I don’t think tougher,” Smith said afterward, showing better defensive instincts than during the game. “They made shots, we missed shots at the end of the day. We had some good looks, they didn’t fall. For them playing on their home court, they fell. It’s a matter for us to bounce back, go home, try and get two, even the series up and come back here.”
Thanks to the league’s odd scheduling, Game 3 is not until Saturday, giving Cavs coach Tyronn Lue plenty of time to consider tweaks to his starting lineup and rotations. After a 25-point loss in the opener, Lue altered his frontcourt by putting Tristan Thompson with the first five and bringing Kyle Korver off the bench.
The moves worked as Thompson provided needed energy and Korver knocked down four three-pointers and had Boston’s defense focused on more than James.
Now, Lue has to ponder another shake-up.
One option is to re-insert Korver at small forward, sit Hill and slide James to the point, where he typically plays anyway but where he’ll be more susceptible to double teams and will have to work harder than he is already.
Another possibility is to drop Smith, who is 2-for-16 from the field and has missed all seven of his three-point attempts, from the starting lineup.
Honor roll: Cleveland’s James, Houston’s James Harden and New Orleans’ Anthony Davis are the finalists for the NBA’s MVP award.
Harden, who led the league in scoring, has twice been a runner-up for the award, including last year when Russell Westbrook won.
James has won the MVP award four times.
Davis was also a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, along with Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Philadelphia center Joel Embiid.
The finalists for four other awards also were announced. They include:
⏩ Rookie of the Year: Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons and Boston’s Jayson Tatum;
⏩ Coach of the Year: Toronto’s Dwane Casey, Utah’s Quin Snyder and Boston’s Brad Stevens;
⏩ Sixth man: Houston’s Eric Gordon, Toronto’s Fred VanVleet and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Lou Williams;
⏩ Most Improved Player: Houston’s Clint Capela, Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie, Indiana’s Victor Oladipo.
The winners The will be announced June 25.
Briefly: ESPN reported that Mike Budenholzer, who coached Atlanta to a 213-197 record in the past five seasons before being fired April 25, has agreed to a four-year contract to coach Milwaukee . ... Washington forward/center Jason Smith has exercised his $5.45 million option for next season, NBC Sports Washington reported.