J.R. Smith has already had his first heat-check with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The streak shooter lit it up from downtown in Monday's scrimmage against the Washington Wizards, draining six of his seven three-point attempts, including this impressive double-clutch triple while avoiding a block attempt by Ish Smith.
Contested double-clutch three.
Casual for JR 🔥
6-7 from deep today pic.twitter.com/AypRTqaWqg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 27, 2020
Smith led all scorers in the afternoon scrimmage, which the Lakers won 123-116. In 25 minutes off the bench, Smith dropped 20 points, with all his points from the field coming on three-pointers (6-9 FG overall). He also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds.
It was a good day overall for Lakers guards. Alex Caruso posted 17 points (4-6 FG, 3-4 3Pt, 6-8 FT), six assists and five rebounds for a +16 plus/minus rating, while pinch-vlogger Danny Green put up 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Dion Waiters also came off the bench to—predictably—score 18 points on 17 field goal attempts.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma, and Dwight Howard sat out the team's final warm-up ahead of their first seeding game on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lakers fans are hoping the solid shooting efforts from their backcourt on Monday will give those players confidence going into the real games. After Avery Bradley opted out of the Orlando bubble and Rajon Rondo underwent thumb surgery that is expected to sideline him for six-to-eight weeks, Los Angeles will need players like Smith and Waiters to provide instant offense off the bench.
Smith scored just six points in each of the Lakers's first two scrimmages—against the Orlando Magic on Saturday and the Dallas Mavericks last Thursday.
Washington rookie Rui Hachimura led the way for the Wizards in the scrimmage, posting 19 points (7-of-13 field goals).
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