New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson already was under considerable heat for his recent late-game management. Then Andrea Bargnani came along and showed boneheaded decisions are not limited to the embattled coach.
As USA TODAY Sports' For The Win reported, the Knicks 7-foot big man completely lost track of the score at the end of the first overtime in Wednesday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, a game the Knicks eventually would win 107-101 in double-overtime.
The Knicks had the ball with a 94-92 lead with less than 30 seconds left in overtime. They worked the shot clock down to three seconds when Carmelo Anthony took an off-balance jumper with less than 19 second left.
Tyson Chandler, in his first game back from a broken leg on Nov. 5, pulled down the rebound for the Knicks and passed the ball out to Bargnani at the 3-point line with the shot clock turned off and the Bucks needing to foul to stop the clock.
But before the Bucks could even get to Bargnani, he inexplicably hoisted up another 3-pointer that was off the mark. Milwaukee's Ekpe Udoh got the rebound to give the Bucks one more shot to tie the game.
John Henson's put-back of a Brandon Knight miss tied the game at 94 and sent the game into double-overtime.
"It was aggressive and it definitely was a mistake," Bargnani said after the game, as reported by the New York Post. "It's a good thing we won the game and stayed together."
According the Post, Anthony initially thought the fault was with him.
"I thought I shot an airball," Anthony said. "That's why I thought he shot it quick. The game should've been over with. We got to get better at that."
Bargani's screw-up comes on the heels of the Knicks' 102-101 loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday night when New York, which had a foul to give, failed to foul the Wizards' Bradley Beal on his way to a layup for the game-winning points with six second left.
Then, Woodson failed to call a timeout to set up the final play, and Anthony took an off-balance 24-footer at the buzzer that missed.
Bargnani's inexcusable play - fairly or unfairly - adds to Woodson's late-game woes. Not only is his own late-game strategy in question, but he also seems unable to keep his players attuned to the game.
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