Part of J.R. Smith’s success this season with the Knicks has been attributed to the newly crowned Sixth Man of the Year ditching nightly partying in New York in order to focus on his game. Well, apparently all it took was a one-game suspension and a tough Game 4 loss for Smith to deviate from the straight and narrow (relatively speaking, of course). J.R. was without a doubt enjoying himself during the first round of the playoffs, but he wants folks to know he turned over a new leaf for the second round, allegedly.
Pictures from April 28th and 29th — the two nights following the Knicks’ Game 4 loss to the Celtics in Boston — show Smith partying at various New York City hot spots, including Pink Elephant and Griffin. That must have been one helluva hangover, because it’s the only explanation for the abysmal 3-14 performance Smith chucked up in Game 5 Wednesday night.
Smith never fully addressed the partying during the first round of the Playoffs. However, J.R. finally got fed up on Sunday with the haters and took to Twitter and Instagram to fire a preemptive shot. He let his fans know he wasn’t partying prior to his horrendous Game 1 performance in the second round of the Eastern conference playoffs on Sunday, when he went 4-15 against the Pacers. Subtle shots they were not.
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