J.R. Smith Admits to Panicking: As Well He (and the Knicks) Should

Don't worry, J.R. Everything's going to be just fine.

Alright, you caught me. I'm lying. I don't know if J.R. Smith will find his touch from the floor. Or if the New York Knicks will know what it feels like to have a winning record this season. Or if the Knicks City Dancers will ever dance again. No one does.

Venturing into this unknown should have us scared, perhaps sending us into a panicked state in the process. But we won't be alone. Smith will be there, too. And his teammates won't be far behind.

"We're frustrated," Smith said of where the Knicks are mentally after losing to the Indiana Pacers, via ESPN New York's Ohm Youngmisuk. "Like you say, it's too early to panic, but me personally, I'm panicking. I don't like this."

Only a few select NBA teams are built to bask in the inelegance of losing, and the Knicks aren't one of them. They're supposed to be title contenders. Winners. Prized muppets in James Dolan's theatre of demonic totality.

Instead, New York finds itself tied for the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference and worst record in the Atlantic Division with the Brooklyn Nets. I'm sure everyone could think of better ways to spend $88-plus million.

Merely 11 games into the season, all hope is not lost. While 3-8, the Atlantic Division is right there for the taking. The Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics all join the Knicks (and Nets) in sitting under .500. Despite their sorry displays of basketball, Orange and Blue is just 1.5 games off the lead.

But this isn't the NFL. Any given Sunday doesn't apply come postseason. Upsets are infrequent, as the superior team usually wins over the course of a seven-game series. Simply being good enough isn't enough. The Knicks have to be better. Elite. 

"I thought we had the game won," Carmelo Anthony said of the loss to Indy, per the Associated Press (via ESPN). "And in overtime, I don't know, they just walked away with it."

Elite teams find a way to win. To close out games they should win. They don't turn a three-point lead inside 24 seconds to play into overtime. They don't allow overtime to become the Paul George show. They don't find ways to lose. Not on their turf. 

These Knicks have lost six straight at home for the eighth time in franchise history. These Knicks rank 22nd in offensive efficiency and 26th in defensive efficiency. These Knicks have fallen. They continue to fall. And they don't know if they can pick themselves back up.

"We lost to teams we have no business losing to," Smith posited, via Youngmisuk.

Stay the current course, and it will be the Knicks who have no business believing they're better than their record suggests.

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*All stats compiled from Basketball-Reference and accurate as of Nov. 21, 2013.