NBA

Woodson dumbfounded he’s still coaching Knicks on effort

Nearly a third of the way through the season, embattled Mike Woodson is on the hot seat and still trying to coach effort, still trying to plead and prod his Knicks into playing hard for 48 minutes. For a coach trying to save his job and a team trying to salvage its season, that’s not a good sign.

A day after getting hammered 56-29 on the backboards in a loss to Memphis, the Knicks had to watch film of the humiliation, and as the saying goes, tape don’t lie. It was an embarrassing film session. Now the question is whether the players’ pride was hurt enough to do something about it when they play Monday in Orlando.

“It’s my job to push these guys, and I’m going to continue to do that. I’m not happy,’’ said Woodson. “I wasn’t happy [Saturday] with the effort. We played in spurts again, and that’s coming off a double-overtime win in Milwaukee. … To come home and play like we did in front of our fans, it’s just [bad]. Somehow we’ve got to flip that, because this is where we should feel the most comfortable.

“When guys are missing block-outs, when we’re giving up layups because we’re not protecting one another from a defensive standpoint, that is all effort plays. The tape [Sunday] was embarrassing to watch, I know it was. But you’ve got to learn from it. Hopefully [Monday] when we come out, it’ll carry over to hopefully a win, because we can’t keep making excuses. We’ve got to start winning games.’’

The Knicks are 8-18, tied for the NBA’s fifth-worst record with Monday’s game versus the Magic representing the one-third mark on the schedule.

“Without a doubt, it’s way too deep into the season to even be having this problem right now,’’ said J.R. Smith. “If anything, you normally have this problem right before All-Star break or going down to the end of the season when you’re secure in your spot. But nobody’s running away with our division, and we have to be able to come out there and play so we can put ourselves in the right situation for that.’’

The Knicks won’t do that until they start giving a better effort on defense and on the boards. Center Tyson Chandler and forward Andrea Bargnani mustered just 11 points between them on 3-of-12 shooting. The latter struggled after his boneheaded gaffe in Milwaukee, looking lost on help defense as the Knicks were outscored 60-28 in the paint.

“That’s unacceptable when you’ve got two 7-footers and a 6-foot-7 guy out there along with a 6-foot-5 guy. We’re big enough to rebound the ball. It takes effort, and we didn’t do that. That was the difference,’’ said Woodson. “[Effort] is part of the issue. These guys haven’t quit. It’s a four-point game with under a minute left. But it’s what you’re doing throughout the game that puts you in the position you’re in.

“We’ve had so many peaks and valleys in terms of how we’ve played. We can point the finger at injuries. There are a lot of things you could point the finger at. But … if you’re in uniform and you suit up, I expect you to play at a high level. It doesn’t matter who plays, it’s what you do with the minutes when you’re out there. And we’re not there.’’