You have heard it all before — like a half dozen times in the past two weeks, like twice in the past two days. A change has come over J.R. Smith. He is driving the ball more. He is rebounding more. He is defending. Oh, he’s still shooting and scoring. But he now is consistently showing elements Knicks coach Mike Woodson spotted in glimpses and flashes last season.
“I saw something a year ago. I liked what he brought to the table,” said Woodson, after Smith’s 35 points helped the Knicks hold off the Grizzlies, 108-101 Wednesday night at the Garden. “It’s my job as the head coach to show him some love and try to put him in positions to be successful but I still have to coach him as well and I’ve tried to do that and he’s responded very nicely.”
Especially lately. It has gone beyond nice.
Smith, who apparently turned a corner in the Golden State game 17 days ago after he was ejected, produced his fourth 30-point game of the season (all in the last 12 games) and his second in two nights last night.
“We have a funny relationship, honestly. It’s crazy,” said Smith, who has 67 points in two nights. “Off the court, it’s like father and son. On the court, we bump heads sometimes. He cusses me out, I cuss him out and we just go from there. By the end of the timeout, we’re on the same page.”
It has shown in Smith’s diversified offense. In the nine games since Golden State, Smith has taken 70 free throws, an average of 7.8 per game. In his 61 previous games, he averaged 3.0. Wednesday night, he was 12-of-13 at the line.
“He’s not settling,” Kenyon Martin said.
“You just can’t sit out there and miss six, seven, eight jump shots and think that’s OK,” Woodson said.
So sometimes, Woodson uses kid gloves. Sometimes, he uses a swift kick. A couple years ago, Woodson admitted, he might have approached Smith differently.
“Young players are different than veteran players. … I probably would have been a little tougher on him,” Woodson said. “Young players you’ve got to be able to coach them and you’ve got to be able to pat them, too. J.R. now that he’s been in the league a number of years, I look at him a little differently.
“I try to coach him and be demanding but I see something maybe other coaches didn’t see in terms of his ability to score. You’ve got to put him in the right positions, and you’ve got to be demanding with him and not let him off the hook.”… Sometimes I can get away with things I say, sometimes I can’t.”
Let the cussing begin. But when it ends, Smith is Smith. Like last night. What was his approach?
“Start off and establish my game on the inside and work my way out, take what they give me,” said Smith, who had 23 points by halftime. “And just move on from there.”