Mike Woodson is more concerned with J.R. Smith’s physical state than mental state, again saying the guard’s sore knee could be responsible for his dud of a season.
But Smith finally showed a pulse in the 102-101 heartbreaking loss to the Wizards on Monday at the Garden. After an awful start in which he was 1-of-8 in the first half, he rallied to hit 5 3-pointers and finish with 18 points, six assists, three steals and four rebounds in perhaps his best game of the season. Smith’s back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter spurred the Knicks’ rally from 15 points down.
He heard boos early after bricking his first few shots. When he finally made his first shot late in the second quarter, he looked up to the heavens.
“It felt good coming out of my hands,’’ Smith said.
“He looked like the J.R. of old,’’ Woodson said. “He had a little bounce to himself.’’
Two games ago, in Boston on Friday, Smith took just one field-goal attempt the entire game in what appeared to be a shooting boycott. Speculation was rampant Smith declined to shoot because he was upset at the criticism from the coaching staff about his shot selection.
“I’m not going to air out things that go on in our locker room,’’ Woodson said before the game. “J.R. and I are fine. J.R.’s got to pick it up and start playing better. Just like Iman [Shumpert] has got to play better. It’s just we need guys playing at a high level to get us out of the hole. I know they both can do it. That’s what I’m pushing them to do.’’
Woodson often has been seen yelling at Smith, but he has said before the reigning Sixth Man of the Year is like a son to him. Woodson’s patience has been running thin, clearly, as Smith has bumbled through an awful season after missing the first five games for failing the league’s marijuana testing policy.
Smith underwent surgery for a chipped patella tendon and torn meniscus in mid-July after playing with the injuries during the ill-fated Indiana playoff series last spring. Woodson again said he’d have to monitor Smith’s minutes and Saturday, against Atlanta, he benched him for the game’s final 14:20 — a first. With Kenyon Martin out, Smith started against the Wizards Monday in a new smaller lineup, and he wound up playing 37 minutes — despite Woodson’s vow to spare his minutes.
“He’s not [100 percent],’’ Woodson had said before the game. “I don’t know where he is percentage-wise. I know he’s laboring with his knee, watching him on the court.’’
“I got to watch him closely and monitor his minutes and make sure we’re not playing him 35-40 minutes. Keep it in an area where he can help us and feel good about his knee because he has had complaints about soreness.’’
Woodson didn’t want to dwell on the one-shot night in Boston and whether it was a premeditated boycott because of the criticism.
“That wasn’t even the issue,’’ Woodson said.
The Knicks can’t trade Smith until Jan. 15th — one month later than most free agents under the quirky CBA rule designed to prevent any backroom deals. The standard date for July free-agent signees to be traded is Dec. 15th. Smith’s date is one month later — a rule to prevent teams from making underhanded sign-and-trade deals to be executed at a future date. It applies to players who have re-signed for a 125 percent raise with a team over the salary cap.
Teams like the Knicks, who are over the luxury-tax threshold, can’t make sign-and-trades under the collective bargaining agreement hammered out in 2011. Delaying his trade date by a month would serve as a deterrent for rising players signing for a 125 percent raise.