All things considered, J.R. Smith’s chance to forge a tie for the Knicks at the buzzer yesterday landed somewhere in the “highly unlikely” to “virtually impossible” to “you’re kidding” categories.
His 28-foot, highly contested 3-point heave banked off the glass and teasingly kissed the rim before falling away, giving the Nets an 88-85 win. This was not a repeat of the “virtually impossible” game-winner at Charlotte or the “you’re kidding” winner in Phoenix. Still, few doubted. Including Smith.
“Honestly, I thought it was going in, but I kind of altered my shot a little bit. They had three hands in my face. They did a good job of contesting,” said Smith, who finished with 16 points but missed that final shot, thanks in part to the Nets’ Deron Williams defending along with a helping Damion James.
“He had a great look. I thought he made it. When he let it go, I thought it had a great chance of going in,” said Knicks teammate Jason Kidd. “He doesn’t mind that situation.”
What Smith, whose fourth-quarter scoring helped keep the Knicks around to be in position to tie, did mind was finishing the season series tied with the Nets, 2-2.
“Two and two against them stinks. Just like kissing your sister,” said Smith, a 7-of-19 shooter on Martin Luther King Day, when he thought he saw a team of “enthused” Nets that “want to play for [interim coach] P.J. [Carlesimo] more” than predecessor Avery Johnson.
The Garden crowd got enthused late as the Knicks, who trailed by 10 in the first half, took a 75-72 lead on a Smith 3-pointer with 9:07 left. Fans kept the frenzy going throughout the fourth quarter despite defensive breakdowns. Smith wound up covering Joe Johnson on one of the biggest shots of the game, a 16-footer with 22.3 seconds left that gave Brooklyn the lead for good.
“I didn’t have a hand up. When you don’t have a hand up against an All-Star caliber guy like Joe, it’s kind of like hand down, man down. It was pretty good defense until the end,” said Smith, who tweaked an Achilles tendon that was a preseason problem.
But there was a chance to redeem. Down three, with 05.7 seconds left, the Knicks saw Smith go up the right side. He thought the Nets would foul as they had done previously against Kidd.
“But once I crossed halfcourt, I kind of knew they weren’t,” Smith said. “I was just trying to get my feet set and get the shot off.”
With a bunch of mitts in his mug.
“I just hoped it didn’t go in,” said Williams, noting the likelihood of “an off-balance, tough shot.”
So there was no magic. Just a 2-2 record in a series Smith declined to label a real, full-blown rivalry.
“I don’t necessarily call it a rivalry yet because they haven’t put in enough work yet. Not to take nothing from them tonight,” Smith said. “It’s still minimal.”