J.R Smith did have flashes of brilliance in Game 4 but he even knows that he has been playing quite poor. Of course since this is Smith, he put it a bit more colorfully.
J.R. Smith asked to assess his own game right now: “Horsesh–“
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 12, 2015
He’d finish the loss with four points in 28 minutes, shooting a dismal 2-of-12 from the floor and 0-of-8 from outside, picking up four fouls and posting a -27 rating. Smith said there isn’t one thing in particular disrupting his game, but there’s
“a lot… too much to think about right now.”
J.R. Smith cannot be someone you’re dependent on to put up a solid game consistently, and it’s evident that the pressure to perform has overwhelmed him so far in the NBA Finals.
“It’s just not falling, but you don’t give up on anyone,”
teammate LeBron James said after the game.
This is not the first time Smith has been critical of his play, admitting after a foul-happy Game 2 that he “did some dumb things.” At least he’s self-aware, and he really seemed to be wearing it as he left the arena. Smith has scored a combined 36 points in four games in the NBA Finals. To put that in perspective, LeBron James is averaging 35.75 points per game in the NBA Finals. The Cavs need Smith to be a solid scorer if they want to win the series. Perhaps the two days of rest before Game 5 will help Smith find his shooting stroke.
