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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS CAVALIERS

May 22, 2017

J.R. Smith

Boston, Massachusetts: Practice Day

Q. We're so unaccustomed to seeing LeBron play like that. What do you think when you see him play like that?
J.R. SMITH: He's got to be aggressive, get downhill, play like he's been playing, play confident. That's what I always think, when people of his stature or people like him, you've got to play confident the whole night and play aggressive. It's the Eastern Conference Finals. It's not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it's not enough. He knows that. We know that. Just expect him to be better in Game 4.

Q. Does he beat himself up after a game like that? Does he take it real hard?
J.R. SMITH: Yes and no. I think when he goes home, he'll watch the game again. He'll take it hard that night. And then the next day he'll wake up and be fine with it. Well, not be fine with it, but accept it more. That's all you can ask. You take it hard when you go home, but then the next day, you wake up and it's a new day.

Q. Seems almost incomprehensible when you say play confident in the same breath as LeBron. How does that happen, I guess?
J.R. SMITH: I don't know. I mean, I never have that problem. I've been confident every time I've stepped on the court, whether I'm falling out of bounds or shooting a free throw, confidence is something I never lack. That's my job as his teammate and as his friend is making sure he stays confident in what he does, and you know, just trying to get him out of it.

Q. You guys were hitting threes in that first half pretty much whenever you wanted, and in the second half it went away. Was it the defense they were showing you or was it they just weren't falling?
J.R. SMITH: No, I think we got a little bit too passive. We had a couple shots that we should have shot, and we tried to make the extra pass, which is fine, I'd rather us make the mistakes trying to be a good teammate as opposed to just being selfish and just shooting the shots. But we just -- I think we made the extra pass a little bit too much.

Q. What's your assignment when you're guarding [Jae] Crowder?
J.R. SMITH: I mean, Shump [Iman Shumpert] called switch. I switched, and I looked over to my left, and I seen him standing next to me, so I knew somebody was going to be open. It really shocks me because when he shot it, it could have just went right in and gave us enough time to call timeout and run another play, but the way it danced around, it was just luck of the Irish.

Q. It seemed like the team last night guys got agitated after the game, especially with the way that things went. How would you describe the mood today?
J.R. SMITH: It's much better today. I mean, obviously everybody is not up to tempo how we normally would be after a game because it would be normally be a win, but I think we responded today better. Everybody was real receptive, nobody was defensive in anything. Coach talked about what we wanted to do going into Game 4, and seeing -- everybody seems up to speed.

Q. Why do you think you guys have been so good when it comes to bouncing back and dealing with adversity?
J.R. SMITH: Because you look around this league or around our team and everybody has dealt with adversity at some point, whether in their career or in their life. I mean, somebody told me I wasn't going to be here, somebody told Bron he wasn't going to be here and somebody told Kyle [Korver] and R.J. [Richard Jefferson] and all that. We went through adversity. We've lost playoff games. We've lost championships. I mean, only way to come back is to come back out swinging.

Q. Do you think that you guys had slipped into a bit of a sense of security given how the first two games went?
J.R. SMITH: Yes and no. We started off -- I mean, believe it or not, even though we were up 16 at the half, we started off flat, we just made shots. We didn't do a great job defensively. We were messing up defensive coverages. And then in the second half it showed, and you can't do that against anybody, let alone -- they're still the No. 1 seed, so you've got to respect them regardless if Isaiah is on the floor or not. I mean, knowing Isaiah was going to be out, we knew they were going to share the ball more, everybody was going to touch the ball, everybody was going to feel good, so it's a totally different game. We can't approach it the same way when he is playing and when he's not.

Q. Did it feel good to take that shot to tie up the game and make it?
J.R. SMITH: No, I was kind of pissed because we shouldn't have been in that position to tie the game up. If you look at me, normally I celebrate after my threes, but I didn't even celebrate after that because I knew, for one, we shouldn't have been in that position, and we're better than that. We've got to just be better the next game.

Q. In the first half obviously Kevin had the hot hand, you're trying to feed him. You guys actually turned down shots to make sure you found him. Was it kind of a balance between making sure -- knowing that hand is hot and actually taking the shot?
J.R. SMITH: Yeah, it is definitely a balance because obviously they know he's hot, too, so they know we're going to look for him. Within the same breath, we have to take our shots. Myself, Ky [Kyrie], Bron had a few. We've got to take our shots, regardless of who's fire -- if you're open, you've got to shoot the ball. But I understand looking for somebody, too. But it's definitely a balance for it.

Q. At the same time you guys had some uncharacteristic turnovers. What do you attribute that to?
J.R. SMITH: Yeah, I mean, we turned the ball over early a lot. I think we had like five or six turnovers in the first quarter to their one or two, so I mean, that was our problem the whole game. We were trying to -- we were a little too loose with the ball. But again, trying to make the right play for a teammate as opposed to just going by ourselves. I mean, I can live with that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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