J.R. Smith: Cavs 'were playing horrible' late last season, not avoiding Wizards

J.R. Smith is perplexed by Washington Wizards players' continued insistence that the Cleveland Cavaliers purposefully lost games down the stretch last season to avoid a potential second-round matchup with the Wiz.

"I just don't understand that we tanked (to miss) them, and they went to seven games against a team that was a No. 1 seed and they lost," Smith told ESPN's Dave McMenamin after the Cavs defeated the Wizards on Friday. "So, how did we tank?"

The Cavaliers went just 12-15 after the 2017 All-Star break, including four straight losses to end the regular season. The Boston Celtics leap-frogged the then-reigning champs for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, putting the Cavs on track to face the third-seed Toronto Raptors in the second round of the postseason, with Boston taking on the fourth-seed Wizards instead. All four favorites won their first-round matchups, so that was indeed the case.

While the difference in talent between last season's Wizards and Raptors squads is debatable, Smith said the reason for the Cavaliers' late-season swoon is not: They simply weren't executing up to their usual standard.

"We were playing horrible," Smith said. "It wasn't like we were just out there (trying to lose). Everybody was playing. It's not like Bron (LeBron James) didn't play, Ky (Kyrie Irving) didn't play, Kev (Kevin Love) didn't play, like we were resting guys. Everybody was playing. We just had a bad rut like we just did (this season)."

The Cavaliers still cruised through the East, suffering just one loss (to the Celtics) before falling to the Golden State Warriors in The Finals. Despite the Cavaliers representing the Eastern Conference in each of the last three championship series, Wizards guard Bradley Beal hasn't been deterred from proclaiming his team is the best in the East today.