J.R. Smith definitely didn't bring his A-game to Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night. He did manage to score 13 points during his 38 minutes on the court. But he shot just 5-for-13 from the field and committed several bone-headed fouls that helped keep the Warriors in the game at the end of regulation. It was enough to force people to compare last night's J.R. Smith to the one who struggled earlier this season during his time with the Knicks:
Fortunately, his poor play in the second half didn't cost his team the game. Despite the fact that the Cavs blew a double-digit lead late, they ended up winning 95-93 in overtime to knot their series with Golden State up at 1-1. But after the game, Smith admitted that he was almost to blame for the Cavs falling behind 2-0.
"Mostly, I looked at it as my fault," he told reporters. "I had a lot of dumb fouls and turnovers. I put ourselves in a situation for us to lose that game."
Smith also took to Instagram a short time later to thank his teammates for coming to his aid.
"Thank God for teammates cause I played like our s&@$!!" he wrote.
Smith didn't have a great Game 1 in the series, either. During that game, he scored just nine points on 3-for-13 shooting. So you'd have to think that he's due for a big Game 3, right? Guess we'll see tomorrow night.
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