Mike Woodson twice criticizes Beno Udrih for bad decision
Knicks' Mike Woodson calls out plays during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, in Houston. Credit: AP / Patric Schneider
Mike Woodson said J.R. Smith "went blank" in the final seconds of Friday night's loss in Houston. But unsolicited, he also took a shot at point guard Beno Udrih -- twice.
Smith, who later said he thought the Knicks were down by two, missed a three-pointer with 19.9 seconds left in a tie game instead of holding for the last shot. But Woodson said that after Tyson Chandler pulled down an offensive rebound and passed to Udrih, he should have kept the ball instead of throwing it to Smith.
"Hell, his shot he took was wide-open," Woodson said at the morning shootaround. "You look at his shot; did Beno have to throw him the ball? You got to look at that."
Before the game, Woodson tried to clear up that he "wasn't pointing the finger" -- and then said in even stronger fashion that Udrih should have held on to the ball. But Udrih gestured for Smith not to shoot.
"Everybody is held accountable," Woodson said. "When you're trying to win games and coming down the stretch, everybody has got to be held accountable in terms of what they do. So he had the ball, he probably should have held the ball."
The coach-point guard relationship is important, and Woodson and Udrih don't seem to have a good one. Last month, Woodson said Udrih "opened the floodgates" with his defense on Washington guard Bradley Beal, who drove around Udrih and scored the winning layup in the game in which Woodson failed to use one of his remaining three timeouts to design a final play.
Udrih, who is playing crunch-time minutes because of injuries to Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni, told reporters he didn't like being called out in public. Asked if he cleared the air with Udrih after that, Woodson said, "I never even addressed it because it wasn't that important as far as I was concerned."
Smith said he thought the Knicks were losing when he got the ball against Houston, which was stunning to Woodson.
"I've been around this a long time man and you think you've seen it all," Woodson said. "Then something [happens] in the course of a ballgame, and you shake your head and say, 'Wow.' It happens. Unfortunately he went blank. What are you going to do? You can't go back and get it."
Fast breaksRaymond Felton (strained groin) missed his sixth straight game. Woodson hopes he can return later this week. Kenyon Martin returned after missing the previous game with a sore left ankle.
