With Carmelo Anthony injured, out of the lineup and unable to carry them through crunch time, the Knicks had an opportunity to explore a few alternatives on offense in the final minutes of their 1-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.  Coach Mike Woodson called plays for all the would-be Anthony replacements, but Amar’e Stoudemire, J.R. Smith and Raymond Felton managed only 4 points on eight trips down the floor in the final four minutes of action. The Knicks scored just 13 points in the fourth quarter.  That they were in the game at all was a minor miracle and thanks to Smith’s 36 points, his first 30-point game in two seasons, and a lackluster offensive effort by the Thunder in the second half. After sprinting through the Knicks’ transition defense like a human buzz saw, Russell Westbrook struggled in the second half and was limping dramatically in the locker room after the game.  Which is to say, the door was open for the short-handed Knicks to steal a victory against one of the best teams in the N.B.A., but without Anthony, no one was there to lead them across the threshold.  Stoudemire has become a go-to player in the second unit, and Woodson is committed to relentlessly feeding him the ball on the left block. It is a wise strategy if only because if Stoudemire isn’t scoring, what else is he contributing? Stoudemire did make some very nice defensive plays Thursday — notably taking a charge against Westbrook and blocking Derek Fisher layups on back-to-back possessions — but by and large he remains a weak link in that department. For the Knicks to benefit from his presence, he must have the ball.  Scoring hasn’t been Stoudemire’s problem. He is putting up points at a great clip from the post, according to Synergy Sports, a scouting service that charts plays. But he is scoring largely against substitutes and rarely steps out to shoot one of his once reliable midrange jump shots. On Thursday, Serge Ibaka repeatedly swatted him inside and held him to five baskets on 16 shots.  Because the Thunder didn’t have to double-team him, the Knicks’ possession essentially ended when Stoudemire received the ball in the post. Either he scored or he didn’t, but he wasn’t creating for others.  Stoudemire’s bench mate, Smith, can heat up in a hurry, as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t score in the first quarter yet finished as the game’s leading scorer. But more promising than the elegant step-back jump shots and crafty crossovers were the moments when Smith seized control of the offense, compromised the defense and found an open player. However, the shots Smith made in the second and third quarters were hardly all quality looks, and his luck ran out in the fourth quarter. Suddenly the focus of the Thunder’s defense, and dealing with the long arms of Kevin Durant, Smith went quiet. He can carry an offense for a quarter or so, but he plays his best when he is the second shooter — spotting up and attacking close-outs after another player draws the attention of the defense.  Still, Smith tantalizes, not with streaks of hot shooting, but with hints that he can be the Knicks’ second-best playmaker after Anthony. That is a role that was originally reserved for Felton. Hampered by hand injuries since the first month of the season, Felton’s 3-point shooting has declined sharply. His 42.2 percent average on 3-pointers in the first 10 games has slipped to 34.6 percent for the season, and is even worse than that since the All-Star break, according to NBA.com.  Felton made sense as a point guard to pair with Anthony because he offered a consistent outside shot and the muscle to protect the ball and direct the offense. He has kept his turnovers down this season, but his shaky play at the end of games is troublesome because the Felton-Tyson Chandler pick-and-roll is the one play the Knicks consistently run without Anthony that can create shots for all five players on the court.  The Knicks aren’t like the Thunder, who often — and sometimes to their detriment — rely on either Westbrook or Durant to make a stunning one-on-one play in crunch time. Aside from Anthony post-ups, the Knicks need actions involving multiple players to generate good shots in the half court.  If you imagine the Knicks’ offense as a machine, Anthony is the largest, most central gear. His production gets everyone else going. But Felton and Chandler were nearly as vital to sustaining the offense’s motion early in the season. While Anthony was and will be the first option, it was how the Felton-Chandler middle pick-and-roll opened things up for shooters that made “everyone else” a de facto second option.  But as Iman Shumpert and Stoudemire have returned from injury — and Felton, Kidd and Anthony have sustained their own injuries — the once clean system seems frayed. At least the Knicks have a clear model in mind, and improved health and timely shooting has a way of solving many issues in the N.B.A.  The Knicks face a brutal sprint to the finish with 13 of their last 21 games coming on the road, 9 of which are against playoff teams. Can they rediscover that model with new parts, and with some of the original principals worn and possibly reshaped by the grind of a long season?
The Knicks had a chance to steal a game from the Thunder, but ended up a point short without their injured leading scorer.