The Official Eulogy to J.R. Smith’s New York Knicks Career
The saying goes: “you don’t really know how good something is — until it’s gone…”
While we kicked, screamed, and yelled at J.R. Smith for the majority of his New York career … he provided Knick fans with an unfathomable amount of “memorable” moments – whether they were positive, negative, or somewhere in between.
What I’d like to do now is raise our glasses, and toast/”pour one out” in memory of Earl Joseph Smith III’s Knick tenure – by celebrating his “Top 5 New York Knicks Moments”.
5.) J.R. Smith sets the NBA record for three-point attempts (ATTEMPTS, not makes, ATTEMPTS) in a single NBA regular-season game.
This is what made J.R. Smith, J.R. Smith – every time Carmelo Anthony was out with injury, he took it upon himself to try and break a different NBA record EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. On this very day vs. the Miami Heat, the Knicks were within a game or so of the playoffs – but, guess who didn’t give a shit? J.R. SMITH. With the season on the line, J.R. attempted !!!TWENTY-TWO!!! three-pointers, and converted only ten of them. Despite a season-crippling loss, even his own teammates couldn’t help but laugh…
4) J.R. Smith gets ejected for flagrant elbow to Celtics’ Jason Terry
With about seven minutes remaining in Game 3 of the 2013, 1st Round Eastern Conference Playoffs — J.R. Smith was isolated with Jason Terry defending him. Terry went for a steal, and Smith responded by swinging an elbow that caught Terry in the face and caused him to plummet to the floor. Terry had to be held back from going after J.R., and the referees viewed the play as being violent enough to rule it a flagrant two foul — which subsequently came with an automatic ejection. From that moment on, the series flipped on its head. The Celtics were FOAMING at the mouth, and parlayed J.R.’s brutality into a four-day surge like we’ve ever seen in the Association…. They won Game 4, easily. They won Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, like it was nothing. They were down 26 points in Game 6 with 9:49 left in the FOURTH QUARTER, and then went on a TWENTY-TO-NOTHING RUN to NEARLY force a Game 7, which the Knicks would have probably lost — because Knicks. The Knicks were up 3-0, this series was OVER – all until J.R. decided to tomahawk a can of gasoline onto the Celtics’ campfire embers.
3) J.R. Smith tweets out a picture of a giant butt, then leaves the halftime locker room early to go play pick up with a bunch of kids
This had to be combined into one recognition, because there are just too many J.R. moments — and not enough time.
This notorious picture surfaced the night after a random road game against the Bucks– J.R. tweeted the photo you see above, and the ass in question belongs to Tahiry Jose … a self-described “bartender-turned-magazine cover model” who referred to herself as “The Girl with the biggest ass ever.” The best part about this story is that Tahiry had very recently-dated rapper Joe Budden, and when Budden saw J.R.’s tweet, he quickly responded:
J.R. ultimately deleted the tweet, but, not before pouring salt into Joe Budden’s wounds:
Needless to say, Ms. Jose was not pleased….
P.S. J.R. was fined $25,000 for this tweet…
J.R. GONNA J.R.
Re: the halftime pickup game with the kids, there’s really not much else to say — other than MSG Network’s Mike Breen dropping the PERFECT “Well the kids know they’re probably not going to get it back — if they pass” while J.R. was BEGGING to get the ball from the children. Was J.R. upset with coming-off-the-bench? Did he feel as though he needed to get some shots up — to warm up the engine? These are valid questions as to why J.R. ran onto the court and tried to take-over a children’s game … That, or, this is just another example of J.R. being J.R.
2) J.R. parties with Rihanna the night before a crucial playoff games, gets completely shut down
One day after the Knicks wiped the floor with the Pacers, in Game 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals at MSG – a photo surfaced of Rihanna and J.R. at a NYC club for Rihanna’s “Diamonds World Tour” After Party. The Knicks went on to lose games 3 and 4 in Indianapolis, with the ‘Sixth Man of the Year’, J.R. Smith, averaging only 14 points per game. RIGHT before Game 5 – Rihanna lashed out at the paparazzi on Instagram, “subtweeting” and ultimately ruining J.R. Smith’s New York Knicks career with the following message:
J.R. went on to have the worst year of his career in 2013-2014, and has never been the same since being called a “Desert Thirsty N**ga” by RiRi.
1) J.R. Smith’s SHOEGATE
– Suspended 5 games before the season for failing a drug test? CHECK.
– Fined for Twitter comments about league officiating and practices? CHECK
– Fined for yelling at Mark Cuban? CHECK
– Fined for multiple flagrant fouls? CHECK
– Fined $5000 for flopping? CHECK
– Fined a grand total of 105,000 total US dollars between October 2012 – January 2014? CHECK.
– Fined FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS because he decided to untie people’s shoes, during free throws? CHECK.
When offered a way-out of his fine via the NBA league office, to specify his claim that “Dwight Howard did the same thing to me last Friday…” – J.R. responded: “I’m not a snitch — So I’m not saying nothin.”
Here’s to you, J.R. Smith – no matter how poorly you played, how many dollars you got fined, how many games you got suspended for, or how many horrible shots you attempted … you never changed, and thus: will always have a special place in Knicks fans’ hearts.
Thank you, J.R., for being J.R.
Lets raise a banner for the JR Smith Era:
