JR Smith: ‘I Was Trying To Draw The Foul Against Jason Terry’

JR Smith was given a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from Game 3 when he elbowed Jason Terry in the face Friday night. After the game, Smith told reporters that he was trying to draw a foul. The League will review the flagrant and can suspend Smith for Game 4. From the Boston Globe: “With 7:06 left to go in the fourth quarter, J.R. Smith was called for a flagrant 2 foul when his right elbow caught Jason Terry square in the face. That meant an automatic ejection for Smith, and it could have repercussions for Game 4 on Sunday as the Knicks try to close the Celtics out. Terry had to be restrained by teammates. ‘I was trying to draw the foul,’ Smith said in the locker room after the game. ‘He reached in one time. I thought he was gonna reach in again a second time. I was gonna try to get a quick shot off, but they made a call that the refs saw. Not really much I could do about it.’ Both Smith and coach Mike Woodson insisted the elbow was not intentional. ‘He’ll learn from it,’ Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. ‘I don’t think he was trying to hurt the kid, I thought he was trying to clear space. But they saw it differently and he had to exit the game. That’s something he’ll learn from, and I’m going to stay in his ear and make sure he learns from it.'”