GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Jason Kidd says he isn’t worried about his shooting struggles and that he will eventually come around.
The soon-to-be-40-year-old guard is shooting 17 percent from 3-point range in the month of February, and 21 percent overall.
Compare that with November, when he shot a blistering 49 percent from deep and 51 percent from the field.
“The shots I have [taken] have all looked good,” Kidd said Tuesday after practice ahead of tonight’s game with Golden State at MSG. “They feel good. It has nothing to do with minutes, it’s just that’s the game of basketball. They go in or sometimes they don’t, so you just have to keep working at it and it’s a process. Hopefully, they start to go in.”
It was thought that the All-Star break might help Kidd, who turns 40 March 23.
But in three games back, he is 3-of-14 from the field and 2-of-13 from deep. He went 1-of-7 and 0-of-6 from beyond the arc in Sunday’s win over Philadelphia.
“In the last game if I would’ve missed a couple, then I would stop shooting,” Kidd said. “But I kept shooting, they all felt good. They hit back iron, and obviously they are all pro misses so I can live with those. When they get going left or right, that’s when you have to try and figure out what’s wrong.
“But if they’re straight or long or short, you know what you have to do.”
Knicks GM Glen Grunwald and coach Mike Woodson have both stood by Kidd, who has remained the team’s starting shooting guard.
“We’re not concerned,” Grunwald said last week. “I’m confident that our team and the players including Jason will get back to where they were.”
And Kidd insists he isn’t frustrated.
“There are other ways you can also help your team win,” he said. “There’s rebounding, playing defense, but we tend to shoot the 3 and we get a lot of good looks. I haven’t been making them of late, but if you can start making them here in March and April and May and June, everybody forgets about what happens early in the season.”
FREE THROWS
According to the Mercury News, former Knick David Lee experienced stiffness and soreness in his left shoulder after Tuesday’s loss to Indiana and said he might not play tonight….According to Newsday, Carmelo Anthony has a stomach virus but is listed as probable, and Pablo Prigioni is a game-time decision with back spasms.
Photo: NY Post
