J.R. Smith may tell you that he attempted 22 3-pointers in Sunday’s loss to the Heat because his team needed him to, but Amar’e Stoudemire sees it differently and is not happy about it.
While Smith set an NBA record with 22 3-point attempts, including 10 in the final period, Stoudemire felt Smith and the Knicks blew opportunities to take advantage of his skills inside according to the New York Post.
“They went small,’’ Stoudemire said. “There were times Shane Battier was guarding me for a good seven minutes out there. They got away with it. Opportunities like that, you got to take advantage of it, got to make that guy play defense especially when he’s undersized guarding myself or Tyson [Chandler]. We didn’t quite take advantage of that and they got the win.’’
In Smith’s defense, the Knicks as a team took 43 three’s as a team.