NBA

J.R. Smith being fitted for a face mask

Give credit where credit is due. J.R. Smith makes the world an interesting place.

Smith’s up-and-down Knicks season sustained another twist Sunday in the fourth quarter at Oklahoma City, when he suffered a small fracture to his left cheekbone, the team announced Tuesday. Smith skipped practice Tuesday to be fitted with a protective mask he will wear Wednesday when the Knicks face the Kings at the Garden in the final game before the All-Star break. Smith is listed as “probable,” but is expected to play.

“He will play. He’s getting fitted for a mask and has to protect his eye,” coach Mike Woodson said. “We’ve had our fair share of injuries. The fact he says he can still play, so he won’t miss a game, that’s good. We’re just hoping he can play well with the mask he wears.”

This little hiccup came after Smith had played some of his best ball of the season, scoring in double figures in 14 straight games before getting just seven Sunday. Naturally, with his season going positively, injury was inevitable.

Smith season has been a roll call of distractions, including a $50,000 fine from the league for the shoelace nonsense, a five-game drug policy violation suspension to start the season after rehabbing offseason knee surgery, his social media “Betrayal” pout (which ticked off management) after his brother, Chris, was cut by the Knicks, more than a few less-than-stellar performances, separate benchings by Woodson. And now a small cheekbone fracture.


Tim Hardaway Jr. walked off the court at practice after banging his knee. Woodson did not seem concerned and said Hardaway is expected to play Wednesday.

“He’s fine. I don’t know the severity of it. He got kneed or hit his knee. He’s OK,” the coach said.


Carmelo Anthony renewed acquaintances with Hall-of-Famer Bernard King on Monday at the Knicks’ charity bowling event for the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Anthony said it meant a lot when King said he was proud the current star broke his long-standing Knicks single-game scoring record with a 62-point outburst.

“That’s a lot coming from a guy of Bernard’s caliber and the work that he put in, knowing the type of career he had here in New York. That means a lot coming from him,” Anthony said.

Anthony also talked about how he keeps in contact with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, often using his former coach as a sounding board.

“He’s a guy I kind of bounce a lot of stuff off, just get his opinion. He’s a great guy to have to pick his brain and get some insight on things. He’s going to tell you straight like it is. If you ain’t doing something he’s going to tell you,” Anthony said. “If he sees something that’s wrong he’s going to tell me. We have those conversations. For me that’s probably one of the best people that I can talk to because he’s going to give it to me straight up, right or wrong.”


Woodson said his Knicks are still in the playoff hunt.

“That eighth, seventh and sixth spot is all bunched together. This last month and a half of the season,” Woodson said, “it’s all going to play because you got … hungry teams. You got Charlotte, you got Detroit, you got us, Brooklyn, Chicago. We’re all sitting there. Boston’s right there, too. All fighting to get into the playoffs. So it should be a race to the finish line.”


Woodson said the Knicks will be actively talking to teams as the Feb. 20 deadline approaches but isn’t sure they’ll pull off a move.

“There’s a short window frame here between now and the 20th and I’m sure we’ll be talking to teams, I’m sure,” Woodson said in his weekly appearance on ESPN Radio. “That’s just the nature of the business. But are we going to do anything at this point? I just don’t know at this point.”

As reported in The Post last week, the Knicks would love to add a legitimate big man to the roster after losing out on center Andrew Bynum and still have interest in Denver’s rebounding power forward Kenneth Faried, whom they attempted to pry for Iman Shumpert in November but talks went nowhere.

The Knicks also still have interest in Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry but a source said no real talks are ongoing and his stock probably has risen plenty since initial talks broke down in December.

Both Metta World Peace, whose name came up in the Lowry discussions, and point guard Beno Udrih are on the trade block. ESPN.com reported the Wizards have some interest in Udrih, who asked for a trade. The Post reported, citing a source, World Peace is open to getting traded because he’s out of the rotation. He has tweeted he isn’t seeking a trade.

Despite his shaky status, Woodson said he expects to be included in all decisions.

“Again, I like being the coach. I would like to think that if something goes down, I’m sure they will include me,” Woodson said. “It’s been that way since I’ve been here, and I don’t see that changing. We just have to let it play out and see what happens.”

— additional reporting by Marc Berman