Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 adjustments for Game 3 of 2017 NBA Finals
4. Get J.R. going
Speaking of wings who have been terrible, J.R. Smith has been even worse than Iman Shumpert so far in the Finals, completely no-showing the first two games.
In Game 1, Smith knocked down the first bucket of the game on a corner three…and he hasn’t scored in the series since. He finished with three points on 1-of-4 shooting in 28 minutes in the series opener, and his leash was understandably shorter in Game 2.
On average, through first two Finals games.
— Oliver Maroney (@OliverMaroney) June 5, 2017
Klay Thompson - 14 PTS on 39.2%
JR Smith - 1.5 PTS, 16.6%
Yeah, Klay is REALLY struggling pic.twitter.com/7zkAmGU8w0
Sunday night, J.R. finished with a goose egg in the scoring column on 0-of-2 shooting in his 14 minutes. To have any hope in Game 3, the Cavs have to find a way to get their streaky 2-guard going.
Smith’s 5.9 points per game during the postseason indicate he hasn’t been much of a factor in Cleveland’s run to the Finals, but he was huge on the defensive end and shot 43.4 percent from three-point range.
If the Cavaliers can’t find a way to get him hitting from downtown again, his defense has been nowhere near engaged enough to warrant playing time in this kind of series.