Just when you thought the New York Knicks were starting to make strides to salvage a disastrous season, they managed to lose yet another game in horrendous fashion against the Houston Rockets on Friday.
With 43 seconds left on the game clock and the score tied at 100 apiece, the Knicks used the full 24 seconds on the shot clock before Beno Udrih took a 3-pointer from the right corner. Tyson Chandler was there to grab the offensive rebound and dished the ball back out to Udrih, who then gave the ball to a wide-open J.R. Smith. With 22 seconds left in the game, the logical choice would have been to hold the ball for the final shot – worst-case scenario would be the last shot of the fourth quarter and a miss to send the game to overtime.
Nope.
Smith, who was just three-of-12 from the field and one-of-seven from beyond the arc at that point of the game, decided to take the open shot.
And missed.
As if that repeated “Andrea Bargnani play” wasn’t bad enough, Udrih inexplicably fouled Aaron Brooks on the rebound 90 feet away from the basket. With no fouls to give, Brooks knocked down two free throws and the Knicks ultimately failed to convert a basket on a desperation shot by Udrih at the buzzer.
After the game, Smith told reporters that he thought the Knicks were down by two, leading him to believe he was taking the correct shot. How he didn’t know the score with less than a minute remaining is beyond anyone, but that’s his story and he is sticking to it. To his credit, he called it a “bad basketball IQ (play) by me” and owned up to the mistake on twitter:
Bone head play! Slander well deserved!
— JR Smith (@TheRealJRSmith) January 4, 2014
The good news here is that the Knicks appear to be on the right path after a tumultuous season, winning a game on the road against the San Antonio Spurs and nearly taking down the Rockets on the road in a back-to-back situation. Turning their season around in the anemic Atlantic Division is still a reality, but not before cleaning up on these terrible, terrible mental lapses to close out games.
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter@SheridanBlog.