NBA

Knicks’ Woodson: Felton has work to do

Mike Woodson sat Raymond Felton for the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ loss to the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, and the coach acknowledged his point guard’s struggles on Thursday. He won’t, however, blame the Knicks’ woes on Felton, but said the only way he is going to break out of his malaise is hard work.

“He’s just got to keep working and work himself through it,’’ said Woodson. “It’s not something that’s just going to happen. He’s got to demonstrate it in practice and he’s got to carry it over to the game. That’s with everybody.”

Felton came under fire after allowing the game-winning shot in the Knicks’ loss at NBA-worst Milwaukee on Monday, and Wednesday he had just seven points on 2-for-6 shooting and three assists in 23 minutes. He was a minus-10, and Woodson benched him for Pablo Prigioni in the fourth quarter.

“I’m not ever going to point the finger at one guy,’’ Woodson said on ESPN Radio. “It’s all a total team effort when you win and when you lose. Raymond’s had his ups and downs, but as a team we’ve had our ups and downs. You can point the finger at a lot of things. You can point it to me as the coach.

“I’ve set standards high, and I want our team to be much better than what it is, and it’s not. That’s the frustrating part of it. And the players have got to still produce when they play from a practice standpoint and then you take it to the game. Raymond hasn’t had a great season for us. But again, you just can’t point it all at Raymond. It’s a total team involvement I think.’’

The Knicks have coughed up 22.9 points per game to opposing point guards, their highest of any position, which doesn’t reflect well on Felton’s defense.

“I think he’s going to be fine,’’ Tyson Chandler said. “He understands the team is behind him. We believe in him. We encourage him. And we have his back. We win together, we lose together. And it can’t be on one person.”


Carmelo Anthony will face his former team when the Knicks host Denver on Friday. It will be the fifth time he has faced the Nuggets since coming to New York. Anthony has struggled against them far more than against any other club.

He has averaged 23.8 points per game, with his .352 percent shooting by far his lowest against any foe. The next worst is .419 against San Antonio. Anthony also is a horrid 4-of-23 from 3-point range against the Nuggets.


Swingman Iman Shumpert has struggled almost all season, averaging just 7.1 points on 38.5 percent shooting. But Woodson insisted there’s nothing physically wrong with the third-year pro.

“Medical hasn’t come to me and said anything about Iman not being healthy,’’ Woodson said. “He’s just got to continue to work and when things aren’t going the way you think they should on the floor — and that’s with everybody — you’ve got to work your way through it, keep grinding and plugging, trying to make it go your way.’’