That’s the warning of J.R. Smith after the Cavs fell 2-0 down in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Boston Celtics claimed Game 2 107-94 to protect their home-court advantage and pile the pressure on defending Conference champions James and co.
James posted a monstrous 42-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist game at TD Garden – the third 40-point playoff triple-double of his career – in his best efforts to keep Cleveland in the game.
But besides Kevin Love’s 22 points, the rest of the team could only combine for 30 and Smith insists as much as the Cavs must lessen their reliance on James, they also need to show that they are capable of making plays to improve their ball rotation.
“We have to ramp it up. We’re playing too slow,” he told reporters.
“We’re making Bron play hero ball, which is tough to do, especially in the Eastern Conference Finals. We’ve got to help him.
“With that said, we have to give him an opportunity to make him feel confident to give us the ball so we can make the right plays.
“We’ve got to help him, and he’s got to help us.”
Expanding on what the Cavs can do to even up the team’s backcourt deficiencies, Smith explained: “Make shots, that’s the only thing we can do.
“Obviously we can do more on the defensive side but our main focus is to make shots when we get them.
“Right now Bron and Kev [Kevin Love] are working overly hard trying to carry us and we’ve got to step up and do our jobs.
“We’ve been settling for jump shots, a lot of contested jump shots at that.
“We obviously know we’re a pretty good three-point shooting team but sometimes you’ve got to put the ball on the floor and attack the paint.
“You can’t turn the ball over against this team and expect to get out and run, and run with them.
“We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and getting to the basket.”
Game 3 of the series tips off in Ohio on Sunday (1.30am UK time).
