NBA
Stephen A. Smith Calls Out The Knicks For Botching The Final Play In Regulation
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated01 Feb 2023
An inability to close out games has hurt the New York Knicks this season. The team has a 27-25 record after a 129-123 loss to the Lakers in OT last night. New York had the chance to win the game in regulation without going to extra time but they were not able to get a bucket in time. As a result, they’ve Stephen A. Smith giving them grief for letting Julius Randle take the shot over Jalen Brunson.
The Knicks could have taken home a hard-earned win last night, but rather they were overshadowed by a Lakers win and an historic night for LeBron James. Julius Randle had the ball is his hands in the most crucial moment of the game yesterday and Smith thought that the ball clearly should have been with Jalen Brunson.
New York’s next game is tomorrow at home vs the Miami Heat. NBA betting sites have the Knicks at (+25000) to win the Finals this season.
Back on Thursday. #NewYorkForever pic.twitter.com/Op7T7QjLT4
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 1, 2023
Stephen A. Smith can’t believe why the Knicks didn’t give Jalen Brunson the final shot
The long-time analyst of the NBA Stephen A. Smith could not believe why Jalen Brunson did not take their final shot in regulation last night vs the Lakers. Brunson is a top-three clutch player for the Knicks this season and has been a huge offseason signing for them. No longer do the Knicks have to rely on Julius Randle at the end of the game, but Tom Thibodeau fell into the same trap once again last night.
Willing the Knicks back by six-points with under two minutes left, Brunson was clearly the hot hand for the Knicks and yet Randle still took the final shot in regulation. Randle has Anthony Davis guarding him on the final shot and even had LeBron come off the baseline to partially block his shot that did not beat the buzzer.
New York has played in a league-leading eight OT games this season and have lost five of those games. After last night’s loss to the Lakers, Smith took to twitter and had this to say.
“You know what! I’m getting pretty sick & damn tired of [Tom Thibodeau] for the [New York Knicks] calling the number of Julius Randle,”… “What more does Jalen Brunson need to do to show that the damn ball needs to be in his hands for the final FG decision???” – Stephen A. Smith
Smith is not the only Knicks fan who felt this way as many who follow the team have expressed the same concern all season. Jalen Brunson is obviously more comfortable and capable of making big-time shots for the Knicks and somehow the ball is still in Julius Randle’s hands.
