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J.R. Smith on missed game-winner: 'I think we went with the best shot'

Brad Penner / USA Today Sports

Down two points with three seconds on the clock, the New York Knicks inbounded the ball to J.R. Smith on Wednesday.

Smith tried to cross over Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier, pulled up from three, and bricked his attempt off the glass. Ball game, Magic. Enter, questions about why Smith took the final shot when he was 6-of-15 and Carmelo Anthony was on the floor.

Getting the ball to Anthony would have been ideal, of course, but Smith doesn't regret taking the look.

"I think we went with the best shot," Smith said Wednesday to Ian Begley from ESPN. "I think it was the right shot, and I just didn't make it. If I forced that into (Anthony), what kind of shot is he really going to have?"

Smith's evaluation is actually fair. With 3.1 seconds on the clock, Aaron Gordon had Anthony's post position defended well, and Anthony would have been left to try and draw a foul or attempt a fadeaway. There are few Anthony shots that are bad looks out of the post, but Smith was able to create enough separation to shoot for the win.

Anthony didn't have any quarrel with the shot after the game, either, though the look he gave Smith at the time would have suggested he took issue.

"Of course I want it," Anthony said of the final shot. "Whether he could have got it to me or not, that's a different question. (Smith), he had an open shot, or thought he had an open shot. That was that."

With the loss, the Knicks fall to a disappointing 2-7 on the year, and so every wrinkle is going to be put under the microscope. The offense has been bad, the defense worse and the late-game execution frustrating.

It was always going to be a process for these Knicks, with a new head coach and a new offensive system. The schedule turns a bit friendlier over the next five games, giving New York a nice stretch to work out the kinks before a Texas road trip.

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