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New York Knicks have lost 9 straight games

Here’s the New York Post on the Knicks, who have lost nine straight games, with their latest defeat coming Sunday in New York against the New Orleans Pelicans:

The Knicks tried to apply the power of positive thinking to get themselves out of their doldrums. But it was clear after Sunday’s night stunning loss to the Pelicans at the Garden they have developed a loser’s mentality that could prove difficult to shake.

That was the characterization offered by coach Mike Woodson, who said his team “played on our heels,” in the final minute of a 103-99 defeat.

It was echoed by Carmelo Anthony, who said, “I think we’re playing to lose rather than playing to win right now. When you lose games the way we’ve been losing them, at home, on the road, you start playing tense.”

It’s a damning assessment for a team that hoped to right itself after a 0-4 road trip. Instead, the Knicks (3-13) suffered as brutal a loss as they have experienced all season, which is saying something for a team on a nine-game losing streak. It was especially painful because New Orleans (8-8) played most of the game without its best player, Anthony Davis. He left with 1:33 remaining in the first quarter after breaking a bone in his left hand.

J.R. Smith struggling badly with shot so far this season

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on Knicks guard J.R. Smith. The team played Friday, losing a close battle in Denver to the Nuggets:

Smith scored 11 points but shot just 1-for-7 from 3-point range as he struggles to rediscover his stroke following summertime knee surgery and a five-game suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy.

Smith, last season’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year, is shooting a career-low 32.8 percent from the floor, and even worse from beyond the arc (28.6 percent). The Knicks are 1-9 since he returned from suspension entering Sunday’s game against New Orleans at the Garden.

“My jumper just hasn’t been there,” Smith said. “That’s situations where I got to make my teammates better, get guys open shots and keep driving to the hole. But one thing, I’m not going to stop shooting.”

Asked if his surgically repaired left knee has affected his shooting stroke and his overall play, Smith admitted: “Somewhat, but it’s all right, I’m still playing…It’s taking time. I’m not one to make excuses, but I got to play better. If it’s hurting that bad, then I shouldn’t be playing. I’m out there and I’m going to try to give it all I got.”

Knicks lose 7th game in a row

There are all sorts of basketball struggles going on right now in New York City. Here’s the New York Post with the latest on the Knicks:

The Knicks were presented a gift and said no thanks.

Clippers superstar point guard Chris Paul left the game with 3:39 left in the third quarter and eventually hobbled to the locker room, grabbing his strained right hamstring. He never returned. Nor did the Knicks’ offense.

The break was there for the Knicks to snatch, but this isn’t an opportunistic bunch.

With a sickening late offensive display, the Knicks fell for the seventh straight time despite Raymond Felton’s solid return from a hip injury. The Paul-less Clippers held off the Knicks in the final quarter to post a 93-80 victory Wednesday night at Staples Center as the Knicks dropped their seventh straight and fell to a miserable 3-11.

“It’s mindboggling,’’ Felton said after the Knicks shot 38.6 percent. “It hurts. We’re not used to it.’’

Carmelo Anthony says Knicks have to get back to having fun

The New York Knicks are struggling, and forward Carmelo Anthony isn’t getting much help from teammates. Here’s New York Newsday with more on the situation:

If the Knicks don’t go deep in the playoffs or make major changes to upgrade the roster, there’s no guarantee that Anthony will re-sign just because they can offer him five years and roughly $129 million, about $34 million more than any other team.

Anthony says he continues to remain positive because he has to for his team, but he also had some revealing comments about the Knicks’ 3-9 start.

“I think it’s time for us to kind of get that monkey off our back,” he said. “It’s starting to turn into a gorilla. I can’t handle that. It’s starting to get tough.

“When you’re losing, it’s not fun. Are we having fun on the basketball court? No. The game is not fun right now. When you start pressing, pressing, pressing, it makes everything that much worse. So no, we’re not having fun playing basketball right now. We got to get back to that.”

Knicks assign Chris Smith to D-League

New York Knicks President General Manager Steve Mills announced today that the team has assigned guard Chris Smith to the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA Development League.

Smith, 6-2, 200-pounds, has not appeared on a game since signing as a free agent on Sep. 10, 2013.

It’ll be interesting to see how well Smith plays in the D-League. Many people were surprised that the Knicks gave him a contract, and suspect it was mostly to make his brother J.R. happy — which is a strange reason to sign a player.

Iman Shumpert had a second, unreported knee surgery during summer

The New York Knicks season is off to a rough start. Even taking Tyson Chandler’s injury into consideration, and the assumption that J.R. Smith will play better soon, the team could be in need of a shakeup. One of their prime pieces to trade is young athletic guard Iman Shumpert. Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on some interesting new developments:

Iman Shumpert had a second left knee operation over the summer, the Daily News has learned and it is unclear if the unreported surgery could impact his trade value with the desperate Knicks trying to package Shumpert in a number of proposed deals including one for Boston’s Rajon Rondo.

According to a source, Shumpert had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last July that the Knicks never reported. In September, the Daily News reported that Amar’e Stoudemire had knee surgery over the summer which the Knicks also elected not to make public.

Shumpert originally tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee against the Miami Heat during Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Shumpert didn’t return until Jan. 17, 2013 and has experienced soreness on several occasions, including the Knicks second round playoff series against Indiana. In October, Mike Woodson cryptically said that Shumpert “battled this summer with some of his injuries” and added that Shumpert did experience knee pain but left it at that.

Mike Woodson and Iman Shumpert appear to have some disagreements

Players often have heated disagreements with other players or their coaching staff. It doesn’t necessarily indicate that something bad is up. Sports are competitive, and in the heat of the moment, players/coaches can disagree about certain things, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that something particularly bad is brewing. But when trade rumors are brewing, it does make you wonder what’s up. With that said, here’s the New York Post:

Coach Mike Woodson and Iman Shumpert barked at each other on the Garden court Thursday during the Knicks 109-106 loss to Houston at the Garden.

After the exchange, Shumpert walked away from the coach with noticeable disgust and sat on the bench. If their suspect relationship is improving, it wasn’t apparent during the back-and-forth.

Shumpert is on the trading block, and Woodson hasn’t exactly eased the combo guard’s nerves — even after their meeting when the Knicks played in Atlanta on Wednesday. The Knicks face the Hawks again on Saturday at the Garden.

Carmelo Anthony would not mind a reduction in minutes

Carmelo Anthony, like any NBA star, is ready and willing to play as many minutes as needed to help his team win. That doesn’t mean that he actually wants to be out there on the floor almost nonstop all game long. Here’s the New York Post:

Carmelo Anthony doesn’t lead the NBA in scoring, but he does lead the league in minutes, and that’s something he would prefer not to do, especially after spending so much of the summer rehabbing a torn left shoulder.

Anthony scored 45 points in the Knicks’ 109-106 loss to the Rockets on Thursday night, but also logged 45 minutes. Anthony, who is averaging 40.8 minutes per game, said he realizes with Tyson Chandler out at least another three weeks and J.R. Smith still feeling his way, he has to carry the load.

“I don’t want to play 45 minutes every night,’’ Anthony said Friday at the Boys Club in The Bronx, where he distributed free food as part of the Carmelo Anthony Foundation. “At this rate if that’s what I have to do to try to help this team, then I’m all for it.’’

J.R. Smith goes off on Brandon Jennings via Twitter

Here’s the New York Daily News reporting on some Twitter fun:

J.R. Smith’s latest Twitter fiasco – an apparent threat to harm Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings – had Knicks coach Mike Woodson contemplating a team policy about using social media Thursday and the organization wondering whether the reigning Sixth Man of the Year might be looking at a disciplinary action from the league.

Smith made what appeared to be a threat against Jennings on Wednesday night shortly after the Knicks’ win in Atlanta, where he started instead of coming off the bench. Jennings posted a dispatch on Twitter in which he questioned why Knick Chris Smith – J.R.’s brother – belongs on an NBA roster.

Smith first came to his brother’s defense and then, according to Deadspin.com, posted a tweet that read, “might call some of my Number street homies an put #Detroit on smash for a min! #DeadSerious.”

Asked before Thursday night’s game whether he intended to threaten with that message, Smith said, “No. There’s a way to threaten somebody and that’s not the way to publicly threaten somebody.”

Jeremy Lin says return to MSG is no big deal

NBA players tend to say that returning as a visitor to play in an arena that used to be their home is no big deal. And while sometimes that may be true, but in general I always assume they’d love to step up and drop an especially big game on their former fans. Here’s New York Newsday:

It’s been nearly two years since Jeremy Lin reached uncharted territory and his popularity took off internationally with the Knicks.

Now, in his second season with the Rockets, Lin makes another return to Madison Square Garden Thursday night to play the Knicks. Lin still gets excited about playing in New York, but the 25-year-old puts the situation in perspective.

“For me it’s just another game. It’s two years removed so I’m just going to play basketball and not going to worry too much about Madison Square Garden,” Lin said. “Obviously I have so many great memories there and will cherish it forever, but it’s just basketball.

“A lot of the attention will be on James [Harden] and Dwight [Howard], them coming to the Garden.”