Should J.R. Smith have passed to Carmelo Anthony for Knicks’ last shot vs. Magic?
Trailing by two with 3.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night, the New York Knicks had one last chance to get level with the visiting Orlando Magic. Or, if moved by bold forces, they could look for a 3-pointer that would deliver a losing-streak-snapping victory and give the Madison Square Garden faithful something to celebrate amid a difficult early season.
With the game in the balance and New York coming out of a timeout with head coach Derek Fisher’s play-call in hand, point guard Pablo Prigioni inbounded to J.R. Smith — a shooting guard who is nothing if not moved by bold forces — and Knicks fans hoped for the best.
They didn’t get it:
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Smith went it alone, taking a dribble toward the boundary before crossing over to his left and heading to the middle of the floor against the defense of Magic guard Evan Fournier. His pull-up triple try from 27 feet away caught neither net nor rim, only thunking backboard, and the Knicks fell, 97-95, to a Magic squad that entered Manhattan on the second night of a road back-to-back after a dispiriting-to-some loss to the Toronto Raptors. Orlando improves to 3-6, while New York drops to 2-7, losers of six straight.
Another look at J.R.’s attempted game-winner:
You can see Knicks star Carmelo Anthony — who had a game-high 27 points on 10 for 17 shooting and who, as ESPN New York’s Ian Begley notes, had made three of his four previous shots while J.R. had gone 1-for-4 — calling for the ball as Smith takes the inbounds pass, and turning both his palms up toward the heavens as Smith raises up and fires. After the final buzzer sounded, Anthony seemed pretty bummed out by the way the sixth consecutive loss wrapped up:
That Smith — who finished with a season-high 19 points on 6-for-16 shooting in 30 minutes off the New York bench — rather than Anthony took the final shot caused some consternation among Knicks fans, and just how that came to pass was a top topic of conversation after the game. From Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York:
“The last play, we have multiple options on that particular play,” Fisher explained. “But once the ball came in to J.R., he trusted himself, and he made some shots tonight and he took the shot. We live with that.
“You don’t draw it up for a 3-point shot like that,” Fisher continued. “But I have no problem with a guy believing in himself that he can help his team. We’ll go back to the drawing board and continue to work at it.”
From Al Iannazzone of Newsday:
“By the time I caught it, the clock was already on 3.5,” Smith said, “so if I forced that into him, what kind of shot is he really going to have — a turnaround fadeaway?” Smith said. “It’s not the best shot we want. I don’t think it’s enough for him to set his feet and do what he wanted to do.
“I think we went with the best shot. I think it was the right shot and I just didn’t make it.”
From Marc Berman of the New York Post:
Anthony wasn’t as definitive.
“I don’t know, I got to look at it,” he said. “I don’t know. We ran the play. [Smith] had an open shot or thought he had an open shot. I don’t think I’m going to get it every time.”
Asked if he wanted the ball in that spot, Anthony said: “I think that is a rhetorical question. Of course I want it. If he could have got it to me is a different question.”
It’s also a pretty good one, because I think J.R.’s got a point here.
As Prigioni gets set to trigger the play, Orlando rookie point guard Elfrid Payton — all 6 feet, 4 inches of him — is guarding the inbounds, stationed directly between the Argentine and Anthony, who’s planted at the right elbow. Draped all over Anthony’s back: the 6-foot-9 Aaron Gordon, whose combination of length, athleticism and defensive instincts have drawn comparisons to the likes of Andrei Kirilenko and Shawn Marion early in his career. Not the easiest direct post entry pass to make.
As the play begins, Anthony steps away from the ball into the lane to set a screen for Smith, streaking to the ball. At the same time, Amar’e Stoudemire steps out on the left wing to screen for Tim Hardaway Jr., who’s curling to the left corner.
Anthony pretty much whiffs, allowing Fournier to follow Smith straight to the catch without real impediment. Stoudemire does catch Tobias Harris, but the Magic forward is able to get back to his mark quickly enough to take away any open cross-court skip passes for Prigioni. (The Knicks help Orlando out here, too — Hardaway by not continuing his roll to the corner, Stoudemire by not popping out to the wing to provide an outlet.)
The only real option for Prigioni, hectored by Payton and his 6-foot-8 wingspan, is to throw the ball back toward half-court to Smith.
If Smith’s going to feed ‘Melo, this is when it has to happen — right after J.R. catches and faces up, before Gordon’s able to get his arms back around Anthony, giving Anthony at least 2.5 seconds to do something. It’s an awful tough feed to make, though, with Fournier directly in front of him and Payton watching the ball, ready to jump the route if Smith tries to bowling-ball one into the right elbow.
This, really, is Last Chance Saloon. Prigioni’s curl to the right corner has taken Payton out of help position, Anthony’s got a clear path to catch the ball with Gordon on his back, and Fournier’s change in defensive stance to take away the middle of the floor has given Smith a passing angle on the entry feed.
Again, though, this is rolling a bounce pass to a back-to-the-basket Anthony as he’s being pushed 23 feet away from the rim with 2.6 seconds remaining for, at best, a fading catch-and-shoot turnaround over the top of an on-balance onrushing defender with a wingspan just a shade under 7 feet. Not exactly the most enticing passing option.
As Smith crosses over to his left, pretty much anything that’s not “J.R.’s shooting” ceases to be an option. Neither Hardaway nor Stoudemire are viable targets. Prigioni’s not creating enough separation from Payton for a backdoor feed, and besides, you’d need a Steve Nash/Chris Paul-type passer to thread that kind of needle, which Smith isn’t. Gordon’s all over Anthony, and as Smith goes left, both Gordon and Fournier wind up between the ball and ‘Melo.
At this point, it’s just a matter of whether J.R. can get a look. He did, and while it wasn’t the worst one he’s ever fired, it didn’t drop.
It is, of course, very possible that Smith’s mind on hoisting one was made up the second he touched the ball; he’s always been a “shoot first, second and third, ask questions maybe never” kind of player. But when you actually go back and look at the play, the argument that — given the design of the play, the way it was defended and the amount of time remaining — he actually was making the smart basketball play seems more plausible than laughable.
It’s understandable that Anthony would want the ball in his hands in that situation, and that Knicks fans would be frustrated that the All-Star forward didn’t get an opportunity to either knot things up or go for the win. Should a similar end-game situation arise in the future, maybe Fisher will look to have Anthony come directly to the ball on the inbounds rather than set a screen and look to post up, mindful of the possibility that if he doesn’t get the ball right off the bat, the dwindling clock could mean he doesn’t get it at all.
In any event, focusing solely on whether Smith or Anthony should’ve taken the Knicks’ final shot unduly diminishes an impressive effort by the Magic on the second night of a back-to-back, helmed by the 22-year-old Fournier, who repeatedly carved up New York’s perimeter defense en route to a career-high 28 points on 8-for-14 shooting to go with four steals, two rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes, and made three of four foul shots in the final 13 seconds to help seal a feel-good win.
“It was very important for our confidence, because the way we lost last night was tough,” Fournier said after the game, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “We had it and we just let it slip. So it was huge for us to just play hard, play together and get this win on the road.”
The Frenchman’s now averaging 18.2 points on 51.4 percent shooting from both the field and 3-point land in nine starts since coming over in an offseason trade that sent Arron Afflalo back to the Denver Nuggets. Given how badly Brian Shaw’s club is struggling, and that Afflalo actually wound up riding the bench during the second half of Denver’s dismal blowout loss at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, that deal’s looking better and better by the second.
Looking worse with each passing tick, however, are the Knicks, who rank in the bottom third of the league in points scored (22nd) and allowed (25th) per possession, according to NBA.com’s stat tool. Fisher continues to shuffle the deck in search of a workable rotation — Quincy Acy was back in the starting lineup after not playing against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, rookie Cleanthony Early saw one second of floor time after averaging 10 minutes per game over the past four contests, Cole Aldrich got his third straight DNP-CD, etc. — and with expected starting point guard Jose Calderon still sidelined by a right calf strain, the Knicks remain short on playmakers, shooters and ball-movers capable of producing points at a high-enough level to paper over their myriad defensive shortcomings.
It’s Bad News Bears in the Big Apple right now, and while Fisher continues to preach patience, he also seems to grasp that some sort of breakthrough needs to come soon, if it’s to come at all.
“We’re a team that’s working to create a new identity in the face of what used to be,” Fisher said after the game, according to Scott Cacciola of the New York Times. “And right now, our guys aren’t trusting that they know how to win and close these games out.”
It’s Fisher’s job to build and foster that trust by putting his charges in position to come through in such crunch-time situations. While Smith’s shot drew most of the criticism on Wednesday night, it seems fair to wonder whether the coach did his part in this latest disheartening defeat.
Video via mike sham.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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