CLEVELAND, Ohio -- J.R. Smith called for the ball as it was inbounded under the Cavaliers' basket and dribbled it up the court in the first quarter.

Pretty mundane detail, right? Not if we're talking about Smith.

The one-time gunner, turned defensive specialist for the Cavs, was dribbling and passing the ball all over the place in Cleveland's 123-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Smith's eight assists were a season high and one short of his career best. For context, he only took five shots.

"It's always fun to make plays, be the playmaker," Smith told cleveland.com. "Much better than running to the corner and waiting for somebody to make a play for you."

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue would never draw up the offense for Smith to bring the ball up the court. LeBron James, who tied a career high in the game with 17 assists, was on the bench at the time, and Smith was on the floor with point guard Jose Calderon.

Lue said Smith "got excited once he saw his numbers go up assists wise," referring to Smith's four assists in the first quarter. Again, for context, Smith is only averaging 2.4 assists per game.

"We said, 'Man you still have to take your shots,'" Lue said. "That's when he made a 3 in front of our bench. When he's making simple plays and making the right reads he can pass the basketball. That was good."

Smith says he's still finding his way through what was another tough start to a season -- his second in as many years. Smith lost his starting job to Dwyane Wade, and then when he got it back after three games, was mired in a terrible shooting slump.

He's slowly recovered, getting his scoring average up to 8.2 points per game (nearing last year's disappointing 8.6 ppg), and he's now shooting .357 from 3-point range.

In Smith's first two seasons with Cleveland, one of his primary roles was to bomb 3s and score. His defense improved as his commitment to winning grew.

As Smith struggled with injuries and to find his shooting rhythm last season, Lue shifted Smith's focus to guarding the opponent's top scorer during the playoffs. He's doing similar things this season. For instance, he played a role in limiting Atlanta's leading scorer this season, Dennis Schroder, to 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting.

For most of this season (his 14th in the NBA), Smith, 32, has been the Cavs' fourth scoring option in the starting lineup, but that's only because Calderon has played the bulk of the minutes at point guard. When Isaiah Thomas joins the lineup, Smith will be fifth.

James (28.2 ppg), Kevin Love (19.1), Derrick Rose (14.3), Wade (11.5), Jeff Green (10.7), Kyle Korver (10.6), and Jae Crowder (8.6) all score more than Smith.

Asked what this year's team needs from Smith, James and Love both said they just need him to be himself.

"Even before we really started picking up our level of play, one of the things mentioned to him is he's become such a great two-way player and one of we feel like the best in this league at it," Love said. "Whether his shot's not going or he's not so heavily involved in the offense, he can take the other team's best wing player and make it really tough on him every night."

Smith added: "They obviously need my defense more than my offense. We have tons of guys who can score the ball. My energy, effort, and leadership skills at some point, or another, just communicating on the defensive end."

There is still the occasional old J.R. game, where he'll let the shots fly and watch them rip the net. He's had two games with five 3-pointers and two others with four.

Tuesday actually marked the second game this season that Smith contributed more assists than shots. He also did it in a 22-point win over the Bulls on Dec. 4, when he registered five assists (to three shots).

"He's really matured since he's first come into the league," Lue said. "Just understanding it's about winning. When he got here, on other teams, he was worrying about shots and getting attempts and stuff like that. Now he's gotten older and understands it's about winning. Been great for a guy to play defensively the way he does -- he has the toughest assignment -- and then to only get five shots or sometimes three or four shots, he's OK with that because he wants to win.

"Just seeing him mature and the things he's done over the last four years of, you know, being here has been great for him."