You know it’s bad when it’s JR Smith making these kinds of comments. C’mon fellas, let’s keep it together — this isn’t going to help the Knicks at all. JR Smith made some comments over the weekend about the Knicks not showing enough heart. Melo didn’t seem to have too much of an issue with it, but Amar’e on the other hand seemed to take a jab at JR. JR then tweeted his reaction earlier this morning. Check it out…
*JR SMITH TWEET ABOVE IN GALLERY*
Via ESPN:
J.R. Smith laid down a pretty damning indictment of the New York Knicks after their 23-point loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
“It’s not a mental thing, it’s a heart thing,” Smith said after the Knicks gave up 73 first-half points in the loss.
“Guys get open shots, [they’re] walking through the lane, running around, slapping high-fives, laughing, joking. When you’re supposed to be a team trying to make the playoffs, you ain’t gonna win. It ain’t gonna happen like that. You gotta play with effort, play with heart. I mean, I’m not condoning knocking somebody down and hurting nobody. But we gotta do something. We gotta stick up for ourselves. We’re just letting people do what they want to do.”
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Responses:
Melo via ESPN:
Anthony didn’t go as far as questioning his team’s heart after Friday’s game but said the losses to Golden State and Miami the past two nights were “embarrassing.”
“I don’t think it’s heart, man. That’s his opinion; everybody has their own opinion. So I can’t go against what he says. But for me it’s just the consistency and it’s been all year long,” Anthony said. “As far as questioning a guy’s heart, I wouldn’t go that far. I think as a team we just, we’re not consistent in a lot of aspects out there, and it’s showing.”
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Amar’e via NYPost:
Stoudemire indicated the controversial Smith perhaps isn’t one to judge character.
“You have to look at yourself in the mirror before we make statements,’’ Stoudemire said when asked about the comments. “We got to make sure you’re playing hard first. You take care of yourself and then everyone else will follow suit. Until you do it yourself, then you can lead by example.’’
