CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In the midst of his worst season, with rumors circulating about the Cleveland Cavaliers showing interest in Sacramento Kings combo-guard George Hill, a potential replacement for him in the starting lineup, JR Smith delivered his best performance of the season and one of his brightest in the last few years.

For one night, he silenced the doubters, scoring a season-high 23 points on 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-13 from 3-point range.

"It gets me going in the right direction," Smith said following the Cavaliers' 115-108 win against the Indiana Pacers. "Unfortunately, you got to have a short-term memory because you got another game coming right back up. But I'm going to dwell on this one for a while. I needed it."

Smith had been at the center of Cleveland's January struggles, one of the players head coach Tyronn Lue considered pulling out of the starting lineup. But Lue stuck with him, in large part because he liked how the second unit was playing together. That faith paid dividends on Friday night, needing all of that production to hold off a late Indiana rally.

"Some nights he gets three shots, some nights he gets eight shots," Lue said of Smith. "It just all depends on the flow of the game and how we're playing offensively. If we're playing the right way, moving the basketball, playing with pace. But every night you know you're going to get effort from JR so that's what I'm most pleased about -- his effort.

"He has to guard the toughest matchup most of the times every night and he's giving it to us every way he can. So shooting the basketball is going to come and go. Like tonight, he shot the ball extremely well so it's just part of the game."

The mercurial shooting guard has been getting to the gym early, working on his shot with assistants Damon Jones and Phil Handy. Kyle Korver, one of the NBA's best shooters who has helped teammates when approached in the past, has been giving Smith pointers, aiding him with his form. And Smith also went to the film room, going through some of the stuff from previous years.

He noticed he wasn't shooting the ball fast enough, his release a bit slower than usual.

Entering Friday's game, he had missed 26 of his previous 31 triple tries, dropping to a paltry 24.3 percent from beyond the arc in January. The seven he made against the Pacers is just two fewer than he had made in the entire month. The changes he implemented worked well Friday.

"I just told myself I'm going to shoot it and see what happens," Smith said. "A lot of times, you work on it a lot and, every day when you're shooting bad it transitions into the game. So today I just said hell with it, just shoot it, if it goes in great, if I miss, shooting percentage can't go no lower."

Smith's teammates have been pushing him to stop hesitating. Kevin Love said it was great to see Smith "letting it fly" again.

But Lue's lineup change also helped Smith. Replacing Crowder, an outside shooting threat, with Tristan Thompson, known more for his screening and rolling, gave Smith more room to fire and extra shot attempts.

"When (Thompson) rolls like that, everybody knows how dynamic he is when he gets either lobs or bounce passes," Smith said. "It really helps out because they sink out to the corner and that leaves me even more open for my shot, so that definitely helped."

There are still problems to be worked out on the floor -- and perhaps even off, especially following a spirited team meeting to start the week. But winning helps.

Love joked about Channing Frye only getting minutes because the team needed one more big man. Smith, who strapped on a fanny pack before leaving the locker room, ragged on Frye's "terrible" belt bag of his own. James was back to playing music at his locker before addressing reporters.

It was unity for one night, a chance to shelve the problems. Well, except the minor incident between Love and Isaiah Thomas, as Love handed the ball to Thomas in a unique manner, causing social media to go crazy.

As for Smith, there was nothing of the sort. He was out of the crosshairs.

"He said it the other night that he needs to play better," Lue said. "And we need him to be JR. Shooting the basketball is what he does."