Josh Smith is a frustrating and annoying basketball player. The 6-foot-9 leaper (and former Slam Dunk Contest champion) should have spent his career dominating opponents within a few feet of the basket, but instead chose to spend an inordinate amount of time around the perimeter jacking up three pointers. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith is not very good at it. He’s averaged better than 30% from deep only three times in his career, with his best performance coming in the 2010-11 season (33.1%). Last season — his first in Detroit — he launched an insane 265 three-point attempts, of which he only made 70. This season, he’s on pace for a more respectable 115 (or so) attempts. However, if you ask his new coach (Stan Van Gundy), he’d probably want that number closer to zero. Especially after what happened Sunday night in Detroit.
The Pistons put up spirited effort against the now-healthy and scary Oklahoma City Thunder, and had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with a few seconds remaining in the game. So, what did Josh Smith do? He launched a three for the win. Or at least the go-ahead basket, as OKC probably would have had a second and change for a final attempt of their own. It didn’t matter because Smith’s shot missed. Badly.
Detroit lost 96-94 to extend their losing streak to 12 games, leaving them only a half game ahead of Philadelphia for the worst record in the league.
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