JR Smith Denies Partying The Night Before His Awful Shooting Game Against Indiana

It was his third-straight bad game since getting suspended for elbowing Jason Terry in the face, and the second game of the playoffs where he was spotted out in NYC the night before.

On Saturday night, Jay-Z's 40/40 Club tweeted that Smith was "in the building" along with some other athletes and celebrities to watch the Floyd Mayweather fight.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but earlier this year Smith explicitly said that going out in New York last season hurt his play, planting the seed in the minds of fans and writers that there is a causal relationship between his partying and his shooting.

After the game, Smith took to Twitter to shoot down the rumors:

He was reportedly spotted out the night before the Knicks-Celtics Game 5 last week, as well.

Oddly, Smith has had all sorts of problems on Sundays this season. He averaged 14.3 points per game and shot 34.4% in 15 Sunday games this year, compared to 18.1 ppg and 42.2% shooting overall.

Smith can do whatever he wants in his free time. The only thing that matters for him and the Knicks is that he busts out of his awful shooting slump.

He's now shooting 28.6% since elbowing Terry, leaving a scoring hole that Carmelo Anthony and others have failed to fill.

He made a more conscious effort to go to the basket instead of shooting mid-range jumpers yesterday, but even that was a fruitless strategy against Roy Hibbert.

The shots need to start falling, or these rumors of late-night escapades are going to keep growing.