For once, it wasn’t J.R. Smith’s fault.
The problematic shooting guard, who was benched in two of the Knicks’ previous five games by coach Mike Woodson, actually was a bright spot in the Knicks’ otherwise gloomy 109-95 loss to the Clippers Friday night at the Garden.
Smith made 9 of 18 shots, scored a season-high 24 points, sank a trio of 3-pointers and got to the line four times.
“Just hard work,” he said. “I’m dedicated. Staying in the gym, focused on the game, taking what the defense gives me.
“Try to get to the free throw line as much as I can. At the same time when I penetrate, I understand guys are going to gravitate to me, try to find the big guys and kick out for 3s.”
Unfortunately for Smith and the Knicks, the impressive performance has been a rarity this season, as frequent as the club-goer staying home on a Saturday night. He has spent more time taking ill-advised jump shots, untying opponents’ shoelaces and fighting with Woodson than he has playing good basketball.
The Knicks hope it’s a start. Woodson said it reminded him of last year, when Smith was the Sixth Man of the Year and played a key role on the Knicks’ 54-win season and run to the second round of the playoffs.
“We need him,” Carmelo Anthony said. “I told you guys the other day, we need J.R. Smith. We need him to play the way he played [Friday]. I thought he played extremely well and we’re going to need more of that.”
It has been a forgettable year for Smith, who missed the season’s first five games after violating the league’s anti-drug policy in the offseason. He was hit with a $50,000 fine by the NBA for untying the sneakers of the Mavericks’ Shawn Marion and allegedly trying to do it against the Pistons’ Greg Monroe the next game. Woodson benched Smith twice, first for the shoelace fiasco and a second time after he complained about playing time and was reportedly late for a team meeting on Tuesday.
Smith also has angered the organization after the Knicks waived his brother, Chris, when he tweeted an Instagram photo that read: “You know the sad thing about betrayal? It never comes from an enemy.”
But with Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin both out for at least the next two weeks, the Knicks are again working with a marginal roster. They have lost three in a row, a skid threatening to eliminate all the good feeling of the five-game winning streak that preceded it.
“With STAT [Stoudemire] out, we need more scoring,” Smith said. “[I’m] just trying to be as aggressive as I can.”