Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said he’s “moving on” from J. R. Smith‘s defensive lapse on Tuesday night, but not before he admitted the incident was “embarrassing” to Smith and the team.
Late in the fourth quarter, Smith walked off the court during play to hug guard Jason Terry on the Milwaukee Bucks bench. Smith’s bizarre in-game bro hug cost Cleveland points, as Tony Snell was left wide open on the baseline for an easy dunk. Lue was not happy with Smith’s inexplicable defensive lapse was not well received by his coach, who talked with Smith about the defensive disaster.
“It was embarrassing moment,” Lue said. “Me and J.R. talked about it. We’re just going to move forward. We had a discussion about it, he felt embarrassed about it. It was an embarrassing play. We talked about it. We’re moving on.”
The worst part of this for Cavs fans, of course, is letting Matthew Dellavedova zip a pass by Smith’s ghost man to help his new team lock up the win. That’s gotta be a bit gross.
After the game, Smith held a press conference for reporters where his nameless, ski mask-wearing alter ego basically dismissed the incident. Lue said he wasn’t laughing about that, either.
“It wasn’t right,” Lue told reporters. “I talked to him about that also. There’s no need for that. Just address the media in the right way, move on.”
Smith was much more talkative about what happened when speaking to reporters on Wednesday. He said his alter ego bit was done “more in a joking manner” and that the play “wasn’t intentional, but it was just a lack of focus.”
“This is the first … mental error that I’ve had since I was here (in Cleveland). I mean, I think that’s just one of the reasons why it’s so big because it hasn’t been seen yet here. And on top of not shooting the ball well. I mean, I’ve gone on streaks where I haven’t shot the ball well here, but I was always making up for it in other areas so it wasn’t as big. It’s just a part of the game. I got to do better with it.”
The whole thing was obviously magnified by the fact that Cleveland lost, 118-101. J.R. Smith’s shirtless antics are great when the Cavs are NBA Champions, but not when the Cavs are slumping and he’s not scoring. If J.R. starts shooting and the Cavs win a few, I’m sure Lue would let him order popcorn from the concessions and eat it court side. Or at least we would find it charming and silly and not inexplicable and destructive.
