The Cleveland Cavaliers, despite a spate of injuries and an off shooting night for LeBron James, easily dismissed the Chicago Bulls in Game 6 and are now moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
J.R. Smith had 12 points and eight rebounds in the 94-73 blowout, and made sure to troll the New York Knicks with a “One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure” post on Instagram.
Smith and teammate Iman Shumpert can hardly believe their luck, having escaped a wretched Knicks team and now competing for an NBA title.
JR Smith said he and Shump shared a moment together during the game, reflecting from NY to Cleveland. JR told him, "We've come a long way."
— Jared Zwerling (@JaredZwerling) May 15, 2015
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
It wasn’t just (Matthew) Dellavedova. Iman Shumpert had 13 points and seven rebounds, Tristan Thompson had 13 points and a series-high 17 rebounds, James Jones made a couple of big 3-pointers early, J.R. Smith had 12 points and eight rebounds… In all, the Cavs placed five scorers in double figures and received 40 points off the bench. Thompson, Jones and Timofey Mozgov combined for 23 of the Cavs’ 33 first-quarter points.
Add it all up and the Cavs won a game – and a series – with (Kyrie) Irving on the bench, LeBron James shooting 7 of 23 and Kevin Love in Cleveland. It was enough to make James, who often says there’s nothing in this league that surprises him, shake his head in wonder. […] “Obviously yes, I’m a little bit surprised because of how we handled the postseason so far,” he said. “These are first timers right here (pointing to Thompson and Dellavedova) as well as Kyrie and Kev before the injury. They want to be good, they want to be great and every single day they prepare the right way and they just go out and they just play with their instincts. They’ve been playing basketball their whole lives and for them to go out there and just put it out there on the floor, I think good things happen to guys that are just true to the game. That’s what we have right now.”
The Cavs won’t play again until Wednesday when the conference finals begin. They’ll either be at Atlanta or home against the Washington Wizards. That should give ample time for guys like Irving and Shumpert to rest injuries. Irving reaggravated his knee when he stepped on Thompson’s foot, but said he’d be ready for Game 1. […] “A week of treatment and then it all just goes down in one play,” Irving said. “My knee kind of buckled and there goes all our treatment out the window.”
