Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics

The composure and fight J.R. Smith displayed down the stretch of Friday's loss to the Celtics should be commended, writes Chris Haynes of cleveland.com.

(cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - J.R. Smith was smacked across the face as he hustled to prevent Isaiah Thomas from converting a fast-break layup with 3:18 remaining in Friday night's game.

Instead of the referee catching the initial contact to Smith's grill, the official whistled Smith for the brushing of Thomas' arm, awarding Thomas two free throws.

Smith was in a daze from the hit and was seen shaking it off. When he finally felt he was together enough, he said, "OK." But that "OK" didn't have the feel of, "OK, let's get this win. It felt more like "OK, someone's going to get it."

The Cleveland Cavaliers have seen this side of their 3-point specialist a few times. When heated games get chippy and calls don't go his way, Smith tends to react in a counterproductive, sometimes destructive, manner.

As Thomas was hitting both free throws down to push the Boston Celtics' lead to seven, he looked for Smith to see if he was all right. Smith wasn't interested in the conversation. On the very next defensive set, Smith was called for a foul for shoving Jared Sullinger on a screen. He was livid. This had all the makings of another Smith meltdown.

Would he plow through his opponent's chest on a screen attempt? Would he throw a cheap-shot haymaker? A costly technical? This went through my mind as I watched Smith trot up and down the court.

Smith did neither. Instead, he zoned in. Cleveland made its run and Smith's left wing trey off a screen cut the deficit to one with 2:40 left. LeBron James proceeded to knock down three free throws to cap a 9-0 run.

With the Cavaliers up three with 24 seconds left on the clock, a determined Smith came out of nowhere and skied for the crucial offensive rebound off of a James missed three. Kyrie Irving was fouled and nailed the pair to put the Cavaliers up five with 18 seconds remaining in the contest.

At that time, it appeared Smith had gathered the game-saving rebound.

James embraced Smith, whose five 3-pointers and 20 points were nearly an afterthought considering the rebound. The way he channeled his inner frustrations to do whatever it took to get his team out of The Q with the win was what stood out the most.

I wondered if head coach Tyronn Lue could afford to leave Smith in the game down the stretch, knowing his volatile guard's history. The truth is they wouldn't have been in position to win had it not been for Smith.

Chris Fedor has a tremendous breakdown of what happened in the final 18 seconds that ultimately led to Avery Bradley's game-winning three. During that span, Smith was hit with a highly controversial sixth foul to send Evan Turner to the line. It was hard to see a foul on that play and I'm sure the league's Saturday two-minute report will share the same conclusion.

After the 104-103 loss, Smith bolted without speaking to reporters. That's the only thing he did wrong down the stretch, but knowing how candid he is, his postgame departure probably saved him some cash.

Smith keeping his composure should be noted. Had his past repeated itself on Friday, it certainly would have gotten national attention.