J.R. Smith makes emphatic dunk on play of the game
J.R. Smith dunks on a fast break in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia. The Knicks won 110-88. (Nov. 5, 2012) Credit: AP
PHILADELPHIA -- J.R. Smith already had pushed aside Royal Ivey and drawn a technical foul in the first half. But Smith's most emphatic play Monday night was a forceful dunk that Jrue Holiday won't forget anytime soon. Nor will anyone who saw it.
Smith took a pass from Pablo Prigioni at midcourt and dribbled in for a soaring one-handed fast-break dunk while being fouled by Holiday in the Knicks' 110-88 win over the 76ers.
Smith intended to make Holiday look bad. "Whenever someone gets in my way and I'm about to dunk, I want to prove a point that they shouldn't have been there," he said. "That's what I'm going to do every time."
Smith originally wasn't even a part of the fourth-quarter play. Prigioni drove to the basket with two defenders on him; all the other players were on the other side of midcourt. When Prigioni left his feet, he decided he couldn't get a shot off, so he turned in midair and threw the ball back to midcourt. That's when Smith made his move.
"I knew [Prigioni] saw me because of the way he was looking at me when he got to halfcourt, but I was dead tired and I couldn't run," he said. "And then at the last minute he just kicked it back and I had to speed it up."
Chandler rebounds
A case of strep throat has slowed Tyson Chandler, but it hasn't stopped him.
Chandler said he "felt terrible" after Sunday's game against the 76ers. After scoring two points in 21 minutes, he needed to be treated for dehydration. But he said he felt about "75 percent" Monday night and had 14 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes.
"It was night and day," he said. "It's amazing what a little bit of fluids, some meds and some sleep can do for you."
The people's choice
Mike Woodson said he planned to play Rasheed Wallace, 38, in Sunday's game even before the Garden crowd chanted his name. But Woodson said he wouldn't have against Miami if the chants hadn't started. "I wasn't going to play him," he said. "I asked him did he want to go in. He was professional about saying, 'I do.' So we threw him in there.
"He's done everything we've asked him to do," Woodson said of Wallace, a Philadelphia native who had 10 points in 14 minutes Monday night . "We're just kind of bringing him along slowly. Rasheed is still a talented kid. He can't play real big minutes, but the minutes he gives us are positive and they've got to continue to be."
Camby expected Friday
Marcus Camby, who missed the preseason with a strained left calf, is expected to go through full-contact practices Wednesdayand Thursday and play for the first time Friday.
"You're not going to just throw him out there," Woodson said. "I like to see guys practice a little bit and just see how they feel once they've been banged around and hit the floor a few times. He hasn't had the chance to do that."
