Knicks coach Mike Woodson was hoping Carmelo Anthony would turn into Joe Johnson, the current Nets guard who has a reputation for taking and making game-winning shots.
Woodson, who coached Johnson in Atlanta, denied he had a brain freeze after Bradley Beal scored on a layup to put the Wizards ahead of the Knicks by a point with 6.9 seconds Monday night, providing another rationale for not calling a timeout. Part of him was hoping Anthony could stun the Wizards defense and win the game. But Anthony slowly brought the ball upcourt and had to force a 3-point heave at the buzzer that smacked off the side glass.
Woodson admitted after the 102-101 heartbreaker Monday night he should’ve called timeout, but on Tuesday he explained a bit more why he hadn’t.
Though some speculated the mishandling of the end of the game could have led to Woodson’s firing Tuesday, the club is in too much of an injury crisis for that to take place. Management clearly wants to see what the team does with center Tyson Chandler back in the lineup.
“I’m going to be honest,’’ Woodson said. “I’ve let games go like that. In Atlanta, I let a couple of games where I didn’t call a timeout because they weren’t set. We threw it in and Joe Johnson was able to dribble down and hit a winning shot. Was I thinking that at the time? Well, when Beno [Udrih] stepped out and Melo begged for it and he threw it to him, I didn’t stop the play. I let it go on. I should’ve called a timeout, taking it out of their hands and advance the basketball [to halfcourt], but I didn’t.’’
Woodson’s preference was to call timeout the moment the ball sailed through the net to advance it to halfcourt. But even after Anthony touched it, Woodson could have called a timeout. A second timeout would then have advanced it to halfcourt. The Knicks had three timeouts left.
Anthony’s late-game confidence has been lacking this season. Anthony had made just one of his past 17 shots on game-tying or game-winning shots in the final 30 seconds. Anthony was once known as one of the best closers in the game, but Johnson, now with the Nets, has surpassed him.
Woodson said the club watched film of the final 24 seconds that doomed it.
“Bad coaching, we made a lot of bad mistakes coming down the stretch,” Woodson said. “Happens sometimes. I don’t mean it in a blowoff way. We didn’t take a foul like I should’ve. I didn’t call time out. I can’t go back and get it. I got to learn from it and we got to learn from it as a team.’’
Woodson never considered not showing the awful tape that became national news and an example of his team’s dysfunction.
“Good or bad, we are always going to watch tape,’’ Woodson said. “I never let anything go unnoticed. There was enough blame to go around for everybody.’’