Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith has been suspended two games by the NBA, the league announced on Monday. The suspensions comes as punishment for an elbow that Smith delivered to the head of Celtics forward Jae Crowder during the third quarter of the Cavaliers' Game 4 win in Boston on Sunday. Smith was called for a flagrant foul 2 and was ejected. Crowder left the game and didn't return.
Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith suspended 2 games for altercation with Celtics
The Cavs will be without their starting shooting guard for the first two games of their second round series.
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The league also suspended Kelly Olynynk one game for his role in the incident that dislocated Kevin Love’s shoulder. Love has already been ruled out for the entirety of the second round with the injury. Cavs big man Kendrick Perkins was also fined $15K for his involvement in an incident during Game 4.
“There was nothing malicious about it,” Smith said to reporters afterwards, according to ESPN. “I didn’t try to do anything to hurt him or anybody else. That’s not the way I play the game, and unfortunately I got a flagrant 2, let my teammates down, and we still advanced, but still not a good feeling going into the next round.”
Still, on Sunday Smith knew that a suspension could be on the way.
“I know I’m nervous as hell to see what could come out of this,” he said. “This is a situation that I put my teammates in, and it’s a selfish act because I don’t want anything that we do collectively to be taken away by one individual, whether it’s me or anybody else.”
This isn't the first time that Smith has gotten in trouble for a dirty play during a postseason against the Celtics. Two years ago, when Smith was a member of the Knicks, he was suspended one game for hitting Boston guard Jason Terry in the face during a first round series between the two teams. Now he'll have to miss Game 1 of Cavaliers's second round matchup against the winner of the Bulls-Bucks series, which Chicago currently leads 3-1.
“I’ve been in this situation before in the playoffs, and it’s not a good feeling to go into a new team, new situation feeling like you’re coming on the up-and-up and to be quote-unquote back in this situation again is nothing I want to happen,” Smith said. “And unfortunately, my team is going to pay for it more than anything.”
Smith had been averaging 9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game this postseason. He’s struggled with his shot, hitting just 37 percent of his shots from the field and 27 percent of them from behind the three-point line. But when he’s been on the court the Cavaliers have thrived. His net rating per 100 possessions of 18.6 is the second highest mark on the team, according to NBA.com.
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