The calendar says November.
But it certainly looks like last May for the Knicks J.R. Smith.
Smith, in his fourth game back from an NBA-imposed five game suspension after a rehab for offseason knee surgery, shot Saturday as if the Hawks were the smothering Pacers of last season’s playoffs.
When Smith finally exited with 3:41 left in the Hawks 110-90 wipeout victory, he wore a look of total disgust on his face.
“Excuse my language, but I was playing like [garbage],” Smith said after his latest nightmare, a 3-of-18 horror that left his season shooting percentage at 22.6 percent. “I played terrible. I’ve been playing terrible since I got back and I wasn’t happy about it.”
In fact, Smith, who shot a dreary 28.9 percent against the mighty Pacers in May, has been so terrible, coach Mike Woodson admitted he will “re-evaluate” his starting alignment, among other worrisome tidbits. Smith has started after his Sixth Man of the Year Award-winning season.
“I’ve got to go back and re-evaluate some things,” Woodson said after he was clearly disturbed by the Knicks’ lack of effort. “I’m not just blaming it on J.R. Offensively, you’re going to miss shots. There are nights you just can’t throw it in the ocean, but there’s no excuse why you don’t give effort defensively.
“I’ll have to go back and look at some tape and do some thinking about our lineup. I’m going to continue to shuffle and do things I think are right by our team to try to find the right combination.”
The way matters unfolded Saturday, Woodson could have shuffled until Doomsday and not come up with a proper combo. Smith probably could have continued shooting until then, too, and found similar results.
“Honestly, I don’t even know,” Smith said of what’s wrong with his game. “I’ve been getting my shots up before and after practice, been working out like I’m supposed to and I can’t transition it into a game. It’s frustrating.”
And like so many before him, Smith tried to shoot his way through his struggles Saturday. Yeah, that 3-of-18 stat says he failed.
“It’s kind of hard when you’re turning down wide-open jump shots and missing open jump shots,” he said. “Just got to drive the ball and get some drive and kicks and kick it to the guys that have it going.”
And if the knee has been an issue, Smith backed away from using that excuse, although he didn’t exactly sound like a spokesman for 100 percent health.
“I mean, it’s all right,” he said. “I’m out there playing so I’m not going to make excuses for it.”
And as Woodson said, on this particular rancid Saturday, not all was Smith’s fault. The Knicks to a man blamed effort and soft play. Smith was asked when all that would stop.
“That’s the million dollar question right there,” he said. “Hopefully sooner than later. Our effort has to get better. Our defense has to get better. When we’re missing shots, we lapse on the defensive end. It should be the other way.”
As Woodson said: “My thing has always been, when you miss shots you’ve got to make sure they don’t make shots.”
Saturday, no Knick did that, not just Smith.