OAKLAND, Calif. -- Here's something you never thought you would hear: After scoring a postseason-low 91 points in a Game 1 loss in the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers' coaching staff found itself cajoling JR Smith to shoot more, not less.
Smith, a notorious gunner who claims his personal motto is, "When in doubt, shoot," attempted only four shots in 28 minutes on Thursday. He scored just three points and attempted only one of those shots after the first quarter.
Cleveland, well aware that the Golden State Warriors' potent offense will require big numbers on the offensive end to stay in range this series, is looking to Smith to tap into his missing scoring persona.
"He's an assassin," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue told ESPN at practice Saturday. "We're reminding him of that. Go out there and shoot. We need him to."
Smith has not been his normal shot-happy self all playoffs. In 14 games he has reached double-digit scoring just twice, and his high in shot attempts is nine. It is a major reduction from his 2016 postseason run, when he attempted nine shots or more in 12 of the Cavs' 21 playoff games en route to the championship.
Perhaps it's just something about starting slow against the Warriors for Smith. In last year's Finals, he logged a similar stat line in Game 1, scoring just three points on 1-for-3 shooting in a loss, before bouncing back to score in double digits in Games 3-7.
His third quarter alone in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals, when he scored eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, accounted for more points than he has scored in 10 games in the 2017 postseason. Part of the downturn has been because Smith was charged with stopping the opposition's best wing scorer in the earlier rounds -- from Paul George of the Indiana Pacers to DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors -- and was using his energy primarily on the defensive end.
Smith was hardly the only Cavs shooter who looked out of sorts in Game 1. Iman Shumpert, Deron Williams and Kyle Korver combined to shoot just 2-for-13 off the bench for Cleveland.
"They do a great job of taking away the 3," Smith said of Golden State. "That's why they have been one of the top defensive teams in the league the last three years. And we just got to do a better job of finishing at the rim to make those guys come to us. If we do that and eliminate the turnovers, it will be a different Game 2."