INDIANAPOLIS — It wasn’t so much J.R. Smith who looked sick, and it wasn’t so much Amar’e Stoudemire who looked rusty, it was the rest of them.
Neither Smith nor Stoudemire conjured up memories of Willis Reed limping through the Garden tunnel for Game 7, but don’t blame Game 3 on either of them.
Blame the rest of the New York Sicks, 82-71 losers Saturday night to the Pacers.
Smith (4-for-12, nine points) played through his virus and actually looked better than when he had been healthy lately, and Stoudemire (3-for-8, seven points) gave coach Mike Woodson more than he could have hoped for in his long-awaited 8:56 return from his latest knee surgery.
No offense, but the Sicks’ offense belongs in the infirmary.
* Carmelo Anthony (6-for-16, 21 points) scored 19 of the Knicks’ first 41 points. He didn’t score a basket in the fourth quarter.
* Raymond Felton? Nothing much.
* Jason Kidd? Not enough, except on the boards.
* Tyson Chandler? Not nearly enough — again — against Roy Hibbert.
* Pablo Prigioni? Not much.
* A shot clock violation when you are trailing 70-57? Are you kidding me?
Woodson: “Offensively we just didn’t have anything.”
Stoudemire: “We’re a much better scoring team than what we displayed out there tonight.”
Chandler: “We’re playing as individuals. We’re not making that extra pass, so you’re not seeing as many attempts because we’re playing a lot of one-on-one basketball.”
Smith: “I think we have to start the game off with moving the ball.”
Smith had the chills following his shower, but vowed to play Game 4.
“It’s playoff time,” Smith said.
Despite the Knicks’ offensive ineptitude, they hung around until early in the fourth quarter even as they were getting hammered on the offensive glass mostly because the Pacers missed 23 of their 33 3-pointers.
Smith left the bench with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter. Anthony missed a chippie follow and a short baseline jumper, and Paul George drilled a 3 and it was Pacers 56, Knicks 44. Smith clanged a 3 from the left wing off the back rim. With 3:17 left in the third quarter, Anthony took his three fouls to the bench and in came Stoudemire.
Smith drove on George and hit a floater from the right baseline. Stoudemire scored inside against David West. Smith drove the lane and hit a runner over George. Then Stoudemire tipped in a dipsy-doodle Smith drive and drilled a 3 from the left wing and from out of his past as time expired in the third quarter made it Pacers 62, Knicks 53.
Smith first entered the game with 5:09 left in the first quarter. He got knocked on his butt trying to fight through a screen and missed a left wing 3 on the other end. He closed out on George Hill but was unable to keep him from draining a 3, then he missed a contested jumper from the left side.
When Paul George stole a Felton pass and started on his way to a breakaway layin, Smith wisely fouled him immediately, and George missed both free throws. You could see Smith trying to conserve energy as best he could, hands on knees with George on the foul line.
“I was kind of winded early,” Smith said.
When the second quarter started, here came Stoudemire and there went Smith, to the bench. The blueprint was 10-12 minutes for him, no more. Stoudemire slashed from right to left through the paint and ran into Tyler Hansbrough and went sprawling and they called the foul on Hansbrough. Stoudemire backed in on Ian Mahinmi on the left baseline, tried a fallaway jumper and missed.
“I wasn’t tired at all,” Stoudemire said.
Then Prigioni fed Stoudemire underneath for a jam. With 7:31 left in the second quarter, Woodson sent Melo back in and summoned Stoudemire to the bench for the rest of the first half.
“There’s no pressure right now as far as forcing the issue with minutes played,” Stoudemire said. “It feels great to just be on a basketball court with my team back in battle.”
Smith returned with 5:17 left before intermission. Smith drove on Lance Stephenson and banked it in. Since his infamous suspension, he is 19-for-69 shooting.
“[The shot] hasn’t been falling, so try and get to the free throw line, it didn’t really work today ,” said Smith, who went 1-for-2 from the line. [I’m] just trying to mix it up,” Smith said.
Virtually all the rest of the Sicks caught the virus.