Ian Begley, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Smith: If no Melo, Knicks to rely on Amar'e

DALLAS -- The New York Knicks will have to fill a significant scoring void on Wednesday night with Carmelo Anthony, who leads the Knicks with 23.2 points per game, likely out with a bad back.

Who will the Knicks rely on to carry the load?

According to J.R. Smith, it will be up to Amar’e Stoudemire, who is the Knicks' second-leading scorer at 11.7 PPG.

“Right now I think our mule will be STAT," Smith said. "His efficiency around the basket [has been strong]. We've got to get more penetration. If anything I think we should put that on STAT.”

Stoudemire has averaged 13.2 points on 66 percent shooting in the Knicks' past five games, while averaging 22 minutes per game in that span. But he was diplomatic when asked Wednesday about playing a bigger role.

“With the triangle offense, it allows everyone to get involved and play their game,” he said. “Everybody eats in this particular offense. I think with that being said, we’ll see how it plays out tonight.”

Derek Fisher decided to start Smith at small forward against Dallas, as Stoudemire is coming off the bench.

Smith tried not to put the onus on his shoulders to carry the Knicks (4-11) on Wednesday night.

“Do I need to step my game up on offense? Yeah absolutely. But at the same time we've got Tim [Hardaway Jr.], Jose [Calderon], [Iman Shumpert], we've got a lot of pieces so we'll see,” Smith said.

Not fair to blame Tyson: Earlier this week, Tyson Chandler addressed the idea that he was made a scapegoat for the Knicks’ disastrous 37-win campaign last season.

J.R. Smith said he can see why Chandler would feel that way.

“I understand where he's coming from. At the end of the day, this is a team game. You can't just put it all on one person,” Smith said. “This is a collective group. When we won as a team it was a team thing, when we lost, it was a team thing. So I don't think it should be just on him, it should be on all of us.”

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