Marc Berman

Marc Berman

NBA

Time for Woodson to cut Raymond Felton’s minutes

Nobody Loves Raymond, at least not as much as last season.

As Mike Woodson finished his postgame press conference in Milwaukee Monday night, the Knicks coach said he had to do something to get Raymond Felton going again. Maybe Woodson should just play him less.

Woodson sounded frustrated. The spunky point guard who was such a big part of the Knicks’ 54-28 success last season had put forth another horrendous outing in the 101-98 loss to the league-worst Bucks: 1-of-7 shooting from the field, three points, two airballs on floaters, two subpar defensive plays in the final minute.

Woodson hasn’t reduced Felton’s minutes despite having point guards Beno Udrih and Toure’ Murry at his disposal.

Woodson stuck with him for 34 minutes, 35 seconds. In the final 48 seconds, Felton lost Bucks point guard Brandon Knight on a backdoor cut for a key hoop and allowed the game-winning, final-second 3-pointer by Knight when he gave him just enough airspace.

After the game, Woodson was critical, saying he wished Felton was more aggressive on the play. At practice Tuesday in Tarrytown, Woodson backtracked, said many other things went wrong leading up to Knight’s last dagger.

“I’m not pointing the fingers at anybody,’’ Woodson said. “If I’m going to point it at anybody I’ll always point it at myself first as the coach, because I feel like I can take any team, any five guys and win. You can’t just blame it on the point guards. It’s been everybody’s play, it’s been the coaching, We’re all in this together.’’

For his part, Felton is on a media boycott. In Milwaukee he scurried out of the locker room as reporters called his name for him to stop. In Tarrytown, Felton blew off the media again.

It’s curious timing as Felton gears up for Wednesday’s Garden game against Portland, where his reputation first took a hit because of his woeful lockout season in which he admitted being out of shape. Felton may just be saving his breath so he can chase Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard all night.

With the Feb. 20 trade deadline approaching and his detractors calling for him to be shipped out of town, Felton has zero trade value. He’d have to be packaged with an asset such as Iman Shumpert as the Knicks tried to do earlier this season in the Kyle Lowry talks. The Knicks have also expressed interest in veteran Andre Miller.

Despite going back to the two point-guard alignment after Andrea Bargnani tore his elbow, Woodson still has Udrih in the doghouse. He didn’t play a second against the Bucks.

Granted, in the teams’ previous meeting in December, Udrih had a rough time covering Knight, but he can run the offense, can make shots, is willing to take big ones and at least puts forth max effort.

Murry, meanwhile, is a longer defender, more athletic than Felton or Udrih. Woodson has to stop labeling him a rookie.

Udrih signed with the Knicks because Woodson said he liked to play two point guards together and hence needed a third. What happened? Justifiably, Udrih has asked the Knicks to move him. Udrih has not played in six of the last seven games since Pablo Prigioni returned from injury.

It’s evident Woodson isn’t going to let Udrih, who has yapped back at Woodson whenever the coach lays into him on the court, out of the doghouse anytime soon.

The relationship never seemed the same since Houston, where Udrih ran into Aaron Brooks after J.R. Smith’s late miss, putting the Rocket on the line for the winning points. The next day, Woodson blamed Udrih for feeding Smith the ball on that ill-fated 3-point attempt instead of restarting the offense. Udrih feels disrespected.

The defense, meanwhile, couldn’t make one clutch play down the stretch. In the final 3:44 against the Bucks, the Knicks tied the game four times and after each basket, Milwaukee came down and scored. For some reason, Woodson seems to have given up on defensive specialist Metta World Peace, who has joined Udrih in the doghouse.

Felton has dealt with hamstring, hip, groin and lately a lower-back issue. Enough is enough. It’s time for him to assume a less important role. Your move, Woody.