SHOOTING BLANKS: J.R. Smith chucks up an errant 3-pointer over Dwyane Wade in the first quarter. Despite his struggles from long range, Smith took 14 3-pointers. (Neil Miller)
If J.R. Smith isn’t hitting his 3-pointers, he shouldn’t be launching so many. That’s the opinion of the only man who really matters in this situation — Knicks coach Mike Woodson.
The Knicks coach did not like the fact that although Smith struggled from deep in yesterday’s 99-93 loss to the Heat, he still heaved up 14 shots from behind the arc.
Smith shot a woeful 5-for-18 from the field but an even more pitiful 3-for-14 from 3-point range, prompting Woodson to say that the shot selection was unacceptable and he planned to address it with his sixth man.
“He has to mix it up. That is something he and I will talk about when I get back in [the locker room],” Woodson said. “When you are not making your threes, you have to get something close or get to the free-throw line.”
Smith attempted almost half of the Knicks’ 29 3-pointers yesterday. He said he understood he took too many, considering how badly he was shooting.
“[I] took three bad pull-ups for three,” he said. “[I’ve] just got to find another way to help our team on the offensive end.”
Such as not turning it over. Smith had three turnovers — all of them bad passes in the game’s final 13:20. The first came with 1:20 left in the third quarter and the Knicks up 10. Smith threw a pass that LeBron James stole, sparking a 6-0 Miami run to close the period.
The last came with 25.8 seconds left and the Knicks down four. Again Smith’s pass was picked off by James, who threw down the game-clinching jam.
“I think my three turnovers killed us,” said Smith, who finished with 13 points. “I’ve got to do better.”
Smith simply has not shown he can play well against the Heat recently.
In Smith’s last eight games against Miami — three this season and last season’s five-game playoff loss — he’s shot 30.0 percent (36-for-120), including 24.1 percent (13-for-54) on 3-pointers.
mark.hale@nypost.com