PHOENIX — J.R. Smith was ready to be the hero this time. And his second buzzer-beater in three weeks helped the beat-up New York Knicks continue to rebound from losses with victories.
With Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton joining Rasheed Wallace on the sidelines, Smith scored 27 points off a taxed Knicks bench including the final four of the game and an off-balance, 20-footer from the baseline as time expired as New York held on for a wild 99-97 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night at U.S. Airways Center.
Smith, who beat the buzzer in Charlotte on Dec. 5 to give the Knicks a 100-98 win over the Bobcats, said he was happy to hear coach Mike Woodson designed a play for him to get another chance to be a hero with one second left. Inbounding the ball, teammate Jason Kidd found Smith racing to the baseline just before Smith put the shot over Phoenix’s P.J. Tucker that found the basket.
“It was kind of premeditated. I was walking around the court (saying) ‘Make it, make it’ and I was getting my form ready and got through my mechanics in my head,” said Smith, who hit 11 of 27 shots in the game, with all his basket coming inside the 3-point line. “I saw the basket for a split-second as (Tucker) jumped across me and I tried to let it go with my regular motion.”
The Knicks, who lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Christmas Day and lost both Anthony (knee) and Felton avoided losing back to back games for the seventh time in eight tries this season — and this one demanded contributions from all 10 dressed players. The Knicks blew a 14-point lead in the third quarter and trailed by as four in the fourth. They needed 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds from 39-year-old Jason Kidd to hang on.
“(Smith) was incredible, but it was a total team effort tonight,” Woodson said. “It came down to one shot with one second, but everyone stepped up and played. J.R. was big and Jason Kidd … here he is almost 40 years old and still playing like that. It’s incredible.”
Jared Dudley scored a career-high 36 points –the first Suns player to reach the 30-point plateau this season — and gave the Phoenix a 97-95 lead on two free throws with 34.5 seconds left. But Smith tied the game at 97-97 on a 19-foot fade away jumper from inside the circle with 10.6 seconds left.
Yet, Phoenix didn’t get a shot off on the ensuing possession when Sebastian Telfair stepped out of bounds along the sideline with one full second left.
That was enough time for Smith to end it for New York.
“He loves that moment. I’m trying to figure out if that last shot was even tougher than the one before … the one he set the table with,” said Kidd, who will be playing more with the news that Felton might need surgery, which would sideline him 4-6 weeks with a fractured pinkie finger. “I was trying to give the team what it needed tonight … and I was praying for no overtime.”
The Suns not only lost their third consecutive game, they lost point guard Goran Dragic in the final minute of the first half when he suffered contusions to his right hip, wrist and back. Dragic was knocked off-balance by Smith on a fast-break layup and landed hard on his right hip. Smith was called for a flagrant 1 foul on the play. Dragic missed both free throws and then limped to the bench.
“We put ourselves in harm’s way (falling down by 14) and when you do that, everything has to go perfect to come back,” Gentry said. “And when it doesn’t, where you get a guy making a real difficult shot to win, that’s what can happen.”
Needing to replace the 44-plus points a game that Anthony (28.5) and Felton (15.8) provide, the Knicks got almost half their 27 first-quarter points (13) from big men Tyson Chandler and Kurt Thomas. But the Suns got a big first quarter from Dudley, who averages 10.9 points a game but had 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting to help the Suns turn a six-point deficit into a 29-27 lead at the quarter.
The Knicks bench, even with two promotions to the starting lineup, was dominant in the second period — scoring 24 of their 53 points for the night and opening a 54-44 halftime lead. New York hit five of six 3-pointers in the period, including two by Chris Copeland and one each by Steve Novak and Pablo Prigioni.
Kidd hit two early 3-pointers early in the third quarter and the Knicks extended the lead to 14 at 68-54 on a Smith jumper with 6:13 left. But the Suns mounted their furious comeback from there, with Dudley hitting a pair of 3-pointers and Telfair one during a 20-4 run capped by a Shannon Brown layup with 1:23 left to give Phoenix a 74-72 lead.
“I thought guys fought back and played strong, said Dudley, who had his only other 30-point game against Miami almost exactly two years ago (Dec. 23, 2010). “J.R. plays J.R. basketball. Without Melo in the game, you expect him to get up a lot of shots. We gave them a second and it was all he needed.”
NOTES: The Knicks starting lineup included James White for Felton and Kurt Thomas for Anthony. … Anthony suffered a hyperextended left knee against the Lakers but was able to finish the game. Felton fractured his finger in third-quarter scramble for the ball with Steve Nash and came to the morning shoot with his hand in a soft cast. … Wallace (sore left foot) missed his sixth straight game and Amar’e Stoudemire (left knee) is hoping to make his season debut within the week. Suns coach Alvin Gentry said the absence of Anthony and Felton — who put up a combined nine 3-pointers a night, wouldn’t change the Knicks approach to the game. “They shoot 30 of them a game and they still have plenty of guys who are willing to take them.” … Michael Beasley returned to the Suns after missing Sunday’s loss to the Clippers with an illness. … The Suns had been 3-0 in home games following multiple days off, beating Portland (Nov. 21), Memphis (Dec. 12) and Sacramento (Dec. 17).