Dick Barnett, whose No. 12 hangs from the rafters at the Garden, was making one of his rare visits there Wednesday night and noticed a player who reminded him of himself when he was firing jump shots back in the day.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” Barnett said of J.R. Smith. “He’s a heck of an offensive player.”
It was easy to notice Smith that night. He scored 35 points on 10-of-18 shooting to lead the Knicks to a 108-101 victory over the Grizzlies. Barnett wasn’t at courtside last night when the Knicks beat the woeful Bobcats 111-102, but his admiration for Smith’s talents would have grown.
In his usual sixth-man role, Smith poured through a season-high 37 points on 12-of-18 shooting. He became the first Knick to score 30 or more points off the bench in three straight games.
“[Smith is] playing inside and out,” Jason Kidd said. “In the last three games, he hasn’t taken a bad shot.”
What Barnett admired about Smith is the way the once feast-or-famine shooter has found a level of consistency at which he is more dependable and less erratic. He scored 23 points in the first half last night, but nothing was forced.
“He’s a shooter,” Barnett said. “As a shooter, you’ve got to be able to fit your offense into what’s going to benefit the team and not your individual playground stuff. If he can continue to work that out, he’ll be a great asset to the Knicks.”
Smith has been central to a Knicks winning streak that reached a season-high seven games. He has averaged 26.5 points during that span, converting a torrid, 54 percent of his field-goal attempts. He also has attempted an average of eight free throws per game. He made 12 of 13 from the line against Memphis and 11 of 12 last night, displaying the kind of aggressiveness coach Mike Woodson has encouraged all season.
“The way we play offense is pretty open,” Woodson said before last night’s game. “It gives guys latitude to freelance and J.R. is the type of player that can do that. I just didn’t want him to be one dimensional to where he just shoots 3s. To me that’s an easy shot. Anybody can jack up a 3. But can you go get a solid two or can you get to the rim and get fouled and complete a three-point play? That was my whole argument with J.R. He was just settling and shooting too many 3s and not mixing it up. But as of late, he has been pretty good at mixing it up.”
Barnett, 76, remembers when he had to become a better all-around player after he scored 23 points per game in his first season with the Knicks in 1965-66. With the arrival of teammates such as Willis Reed, Bill Bradley and Walt Frazier, Barnett had to temper has game to fit the surrounding cast. He averaged 14.9 points per game during the 1969-70 championship season.
“You had to make adjustments,” Barnett said. “I was a scorer like [Smith]. But when you’ve got a talented team, you have to moderate your own personality to a great extent, in terms of your own ability, to blend with a team. J.R. had made that adjustment. I’m sure he feels like he’s just as great an offensive player as [Carmelo] Anthony is. But it doesn’t fit like that. You’ve got to make that adjustment.”
These Knicks need Smith’s scoring more than those Knicks needed Barnett to score. Those Knicks had other options in Reed, Frazier and Bradley. The current Knicks, especially with Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire out of the lineup, need Smith to score to take pressure off Anthony. Smith has done that over the last seven games.
“He’s shooting free throws. He’s rebounding. He’s getting assists,” Woodson said. “His all-around game is solid right now.”
That’s something Barnett can appreciate.