INDIANAPOLIS: It was a gaffe that could have cost the Cavaliers the game, and J.R. Smith knew it.
The Cavs escaped with a 106-102 victory over the Pacers Sunday in Game 4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, sweeping the first-round series. The Cavs will get a week off before hosting the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks-Toronto Raptors series on May 1.
But Smith realized what he’d done, and what he shouldn’t have done.
After stealing the ball from the Pacers’ Paul George, Smith tried to make a behind-the-back pass to Kyrie Irving on the fast break with 9.1 seconds remaining. But George got the ball back and put up what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds to go that was off the mark.
LeBron James made the first of two free throws with one second left to secure the victory, but before he did, the Cavs surrounded Smith to try to console him.
Asked what they said, Smith said, “‘Just don’t worry about it, next play.’ It was a terrible pass I shouldn’t have threw. ‘Just don’t worry about it.’”
Smith knows what he would do in that situation if he had another chance.
“I’d have probably called timeout,” he said. “Just picked it up, held it, get a good possession out of it. We swept, but it could have gone the other way. They could have come back with that, tied it up, gone into overtime and won.”
George’s struggles
Smith was bailed out by George’s miss on a 27-foot pull-up jumper. That made the four-time All-Star 2-for-32 in his career on potential game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final 15 seconds of regular season or playoff games, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
For the game, George made 5-of-21 field goals, 3-of-9 from 3-point range. He finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his lowest scoring game of the series. He came in averaging 32.3 points in the first three games and shooting .433 from the field and .455 on 3-pointers.
Smith was among those who spent time covering George.
“Just tried not to make it easy. He’s a great 3-point shooter, he’s really good at attacking the basket,” Smith said. “It didn’t seem like he was trying to be too aggressive, more or less trying to get everybody involved. That kind of played to my help. Just trying to contest all his jump shots.”
Pacers coach Nate McMillan said because George’s shots were short he could see George was “worn down from the last month leading this team.”
“He really couldn’t get past defenders. They’d been rotating guys on him throughout this series starting with Smith, you bring in [Iman] Shumpert, you’ve got LeBron leaning on him,” McMillan said. “He had to guard those guys as well. I thought he gave us what he had. And he continued to try to play the game the right way even though tonight he did look a little fatigued. I think he’s averaging close to 40 minutes in this series. Tonight plays 43. Eventually that’s going to catch up with you.”
Kevin Love said the Cavs wanted to crowd George and make him pass out of tough situations and shoot tough shots.
“We know that he’s a guy that you have to have eyes on because he can score so many ways,” Love said.
Where’s RJ?
The Cavs’ Richard Jefferson did not play in Game 4 and got in for only 3:38 in Game 3.
Asked if he prefers a nine-man rotation and if Jefferson is the odd man out, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said, “I think the way [Kyle] Korver shoots the basketball and how dangerous he is offensively, to get Korver on the floor we need to play [Iman Shumpert]. Shump can guard Paul George. Didn’t really want to give RJ a steady diet of that. Shump’s done so well the previous games by putting him on Paul George, it allowed us to play Korver more.”
Mini-slump?
Love went 2-of-13 from the field, 1-of-5 on 3-pointers, and has made 6-of-25 field goals in the past two games, 4-of-12 from 3-point range. But he found ways to contribute in Game 4 with a game-high 16 rebounds, also his career-playoff high, with three assists. Eleven of his rebounds came on the defensive end
“He just had a bad shooting night. But he had 16 rebounds,” Lue said. “So when they take away your scoring, what else can you give the team? He was good defensively, he had 16 rebounds. That’s all you can ask. You’re not going to make shots every single night. We know that. But the effort and intensity has to be there. With him rebounding the basketball it was big for us.”
George’s future
George doesn’t become a free agent until the summer of 2018, but he was the subject of rumors before this year’s trade deadline and his future with the Pacers was brought up after the game.
“I am not even at that point yet. Next question,” George said.
The Cavs’ James was also asked about the state of the Pacers, but didn’t want to get into the subject.
“That’s not for me to discuss. It was a great series. Paul George is a helluva player,” James said. “They’ve got some very good young guys as well. They gave us a fight every game. It reminded me of the Detroit series last year. We swept them, but every game was kind of close. We had to figure it out. As far as me giving you a GM quote, I can’t. I don’t get paid to be a GM.”
There is also speculation about whether Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird will bring McMillan back.
“He hasn’t said. We just came out of this game. I do have a contract for next season,” McMillan said.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs.