J.R. Smith has always brought shooting and a chaotic game that toes the line between positive and negative. In these playoffs, he’s found a balance.
J.R. Smith’s career has been a story of phenomenal, explosive talent undermined by flaws in the execution. Years spent trying to find the right fit, the right home, has led him to the here and now. The 2016 NBA Finals should be his grand stage. It should be an improvement over his performance from last year’s Finals, where injuries to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving magnified his role, perhaps stretching it too far. Since then, Smith has taken another step forward in embracing his player identity this year, particularly under Tyronn Lue’s guidance.
Smith has improved on defense, as an occasional ball-handler, and remains as committed as ever to being the three-point specialist that the Cavaliers need spotting up around Irving, Love and LeBron James; only now, he feels like an even more willing participant in the free-flowing, pass-happy offense of the surging playoff Cavs. He’s still a fiery player, still free-wheeling with his shot selection at times and always looking to ignite the hot hand, but that fire is now bottled within the framework of a player who has learned how to better pick his spots, to deal maximum damage.
The haymakers are still there and Smith will launch transition threes aplenty, but there’s a refocused attention to detail now. His decision-making is tighter, and he’s bought into making more of the little plays that boost a team’s efficiency along the margins, with extra passes, off-ball movement or the like. Most excitingly, he’s emerged with some serious grit on the defensive end, reappropriating some of his athletic prowess and plenty of his gaiety into the goal of shutting down, oftentimes, the opposing team’s best players.
Expect Smith to bear down on Klay Thompson — the Warriors’ best player so far in these playoffs — as well as Steph Curry. The open threes will come to him within the flow of the offense, as much as possible against the Warriors defense, but what the Cavs need from Smith in this series will be top-notch perimeter defense. Smith has become a truly terrific player, the athletic shooter who has finally untangled some of that nebulous potential and remade himself into a role player with much more explosiveness than the term usually indicates. Pipe will be laid at maximum efficiency in these Finals.
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