Four months after the New York Knicks traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers as a tax on Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith scored 28 points in a 97-89 Game 1 win over the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
With Kevin Love hurt and Kyrie Irving playing on roughly 0.75 legs, Smith became Cleveland's only viable scoring option other than LeBron James. He delivered in Game 1, draining eight threes, three of which came during a two-minute stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter that saw Cleveland stretch the lead to 18 points.
He was scorching:
At this point, it's hard to view the Smith/Shumpert trade as anything other than a no brainer. In light of what Smith did to the Hawks in Game 1, the idea that there was risk in giving up nothing for Smith feels absurd.
But there were risks. Smith has had a litany on and off court issues in his time in the NBA, and his tenure with the Knicks had gotten so bad that they were willing to give up Shumpert just to get Smith off the team. As ESPN's Brian Windhorst wrote in a great article after Game 1, the decision to trade for Smith was a torturous one for the Cavs, and it even necessitated a co-sign from LeBron himself.
Windhorst reports that the team's front office spoke to LeBron about taking Smith from the Knicks before pulling the trigger on the trade, and LeBron reassured them that he was on board.
"To James, the character issues weren't just secondary, they didn't matter. He saw a chance to grab the type of shooter he loves to play with, one with a quick release and endless confidence. James has been striving to get guys like this as teammates for a decade or so now. The Cavs needed talent at that position and Smith was a talent and a contemporary whom James felt he could relate."
"For me, as a leader of a team, you always just want to try to give someone an opportunity. With the talent this guy presents, I knew the man he was, and I didn't really care about what everybody else thought about him. Obviously, our front office, they have the last say so, and for me, they have the last say so, but when they made it and said they were going to do it, I was definitely all for it. I felt like, for me, we were getting a great piece, not only on the floor, but off the floor, as well, because I'd known him before he even got to this point."
Windhorst reports that the Cavs even got permission from the Knicks to talk to Smith before the trade and explain that he couldn't mess up on or off the court in Cleveland.
The trades for Shumpert, Smith, and Mozgov saved Cleveland's season and turned them into an offensive juggernaut in March and April. The Cavs were 19-16 when they made the trade, and finished the regular season 34-13 before making a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. And while the Cavs never thought they'd need another scorer back in January, the injuries to Love and Irving have made Smith more important than anyone could have expected.
