While J.R. Smith was mired in his playoff shooting slump, we said that something else had to be going on other than the illness the Knicks provided as a reason. There may have been more to the story after all.
Smith battled a knee injury for most of the playoffs, the New York Post reports, starting with the first-round series against the Celtics. The knee reportedly began to bother him around Game 3, when he elbowed Jason Terry in the head in the fourth quarter and was subsequently suspended for the next game. Smith shot 34-for-117 the rest of the playoffs.
That is convenient timing, but this is more than just an excuse. Smith will have fluid drained from his knee in the next two weeks, according to the Post, in a procedure he opted against having before the Knicks were eliminated.
