The Cavaliers Are Actually Having To Ask J.R. Smith To Shoot More


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Game 1 of the NBA Finals was not the best offensive effort from the Cavaliers, as they struggled to find open looks against the swarming Golden State defense in the 113-91 loss. Cleveland’s offensive rating for the game was an 89.2 as the Cavs had more turnovers (20) than assists (15) and shot a dismal 34.9 percent from the field (35.5 percent from three-point range).

For Sunday night’s Game 2, the Cavaliers need their offense to be much crisper, moving the ball with conviction and for shooters to take open looks when they present themselves rather than hesitate. The role players for the Cavaliers — the ones they rely on to give them added punch from three-point range — struggled mightily in Game 1. J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver, and Deron Williams were a combined 1-for-11 shooting (1-of-7 from three). Smith was the only one to make a basket of that trio, but only taking four shots in 28 minutes showed how much he was taken out of his normal game.

The Cavs need Smith and the rest of the role players to provide a lift in Game 2, which is why the Cleveland coaching staff has had to do something few ever anticipated they would have to: tell J.R. Smith to shoot the ball more. According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, that has been the message from Tyronn Lue and the rest of the staff to Smith over the past two days.

“He’s an assassin,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue told ESPN at practice Saturday. “We’re reminding him of that. Go out there and shoot. We need him to.”

Smith isn’t a stranger to having big games in the playoffs for the Cavaliers. In last year’s Finals, Smith’s 20 points in Game 3 and 14 points in Game 6 (both coming with 10 three-point attempts) were crucial in Cleveland’s historic comeback to win the championship. Few players embody the gunner style more than J.R. Smith, so it’s a bit stunning that he’s having to be asked to shoot the ball more.

While Smith is certainly capable of getting more shots up, he told McMenamin it’s not quite that simple against the Warriors’ defense.

“They do a great job of taking away the 3,” Smith said. “That’s why they have been one of the top defensive teams in the league the last three years. And we just got to do a better job of finishing at the rim to make those guys come to us. If we do that and eliminate the turnovers, it will be a different Game 2.”

The Warriors did a spectacular job in Game 1 of staying at home with shooters rather than collapsing on drives from Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, which led to a number of turnovers on kick-out passes that are normally for open three-point looks. However, if Irving, James, and others can begin to turn those drives into points early, they could force — as Smith suggests — the Warriors to start helping and digging off of shooters which would open up those looks.

Smith has grown into a savvy veteran in his time in Cleveland. Gone are the days when he would hoist shots for the sake of taking them, and instead he now looks to make the smart basketball play. When he’s open, that’s shooting the ball, but when he’s covered, it’s moving it quickly. At the urging of the coaching staff, in Game 2 we might see Smith take a few more semi-contested looks than he normally does, because against this Warriors’ team, those are often times going to be the best looks you can get on a possession.

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