With Carmelo Anthony out with a knee injury, JR Smith took over the New York Knicks’ offense and did his best to upset the visiting OKC Thunder. Smith’s big night wasn’t enough, however. Per Newsday: “J.R. Smith knocked down shot after shot, outscoring Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — two of the biggest names in the game. Yet the only shot that he — or anyone else at the Garden Thursday night — will remember is the turnaround jumper he missed as time expired in the Knicks’ 95-94 loss to the Thunder. ‘A loser,’ he said when asked how he was feeling about the game. ‘I really can’t say it was a great night. I had a high- scoring night, but it isn’t really a good feeling to come out with a loss.’ With leading scorer Carmelo Anthony out for a second straight game with a sore knee, Smith stepped up to score a season-high 36 points, nailing six three-pointers. After a scoreless first quarter, Smith had 18 points in the second and 13 in the third before cooling off in the fourth, when he went 2-for-9 and scored five points. […] It was clear afterward that Woodson was not thrilled with Smith’s shot selection on the final play. ‘He could have gone with it,’ he said. ‘Everybody was plugged in with their guys. He could have ripped through and went to the rim, but he didn’t. He settled for the jump shot. He’s made a couple of those in the past and won games for us.’ Westbrook was on Smith for the final shot, but not so tightly that it appeared to be unmakeable. ‘A turnaround jumper is a tough shot in that situation,’ Smith said. ‘I really should have went to the basket. But it didn’t work like that. My jumper was pretty much good all night except for the fourth quarter. It just didn’t go in.'”
