Classic.
Watch the video above — not Dirk Nowitzki taking free throws, but on the left watch J.R. Smith bend down like he’s checking his shoes and untie Shawn Marion’s shoe while the free throw is taking place.
Marion goes down and plays the defensive possession out then you can see him as the team inbounds the ball he bends down to tie his shoe.
Was that just an amusing prank or something a little more serious? I lean toward prank but others see it differently.
Just a hunch: JR Smith has another fine coming for that untying-Marion's-shoes maneuver. Unsportsmanlike, on par w/Kidd's soda move.
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) January 6, 2014
It’s not as egregious as what Kidd did, not close. but of you want to argue it is unsportsmanlike you wouldn’t be wrong. The league can try to argue a slippery slope here with other pranks and decide to nip this in the bud with a fine. I’m not sure it really deserves that kind of attention, but the league office and I often seem to have a different sense of humor.
This comes the game after Smith’s ill-advised late-game three that cost the Knicks against the Rockets. Smith is on fire for providing blog fodder lately.
The Knicks didn’t need to untie shoes, they won 92-80.