The questionable statement made by Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal on Thursday concerning the Cleveland Cavaliers’ alleged fear about facing his team seemingly hit a nerve with Cavs guard J.R. Smith. In response, the man they call “Swish” issued a brief rebuttal via social media that hit nothing but net and seemed to put Beal firmly in his place:
If you don't knock it off! Win game 7 an then talk. Till then sit home an enjoy the show! https://t.co/aZkZ7Lpi4u
— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) May 20, 2017
Beal had suggested during an interview that the Cavaliers manipulated their place when it came to playoff seeding in order to delay a Cavs-Wizards matchup as long as possible:
“Cleveland didn’t want to see us. I always said that. I felt like that’s the reason they didn’t play us in the second round. They didn’t want to see us in the second round,” Beal said. “If they were going to go down, they were going to go down in the conference finals. They didn’t want to go down in the second round because we would give them that competitiveness and that challenge.”
Beal and his team didn’t hold up their end of the bargain though, losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Boston Celtics. Since that loss, those same Celtics have proceeded to lose the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cavaliers by an average of 28.5 points.
By attempting to equate two impressive regular-season performances against the Cavs to games in the postseason, Beal has overlooked the fact that Cleveland is 34-4 in Eastern Conference playoff games during the past three years. They’ve won eight conference series in a row and hold a 2-0 advantage in their current matchup.
