Long before the Knicks played the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and long after many of his teammates had departed the pregame shootaround, point guard Raymond Felton continued to work on his midrange moves with the assistant Darrell Walker.
While most eyes were trained on a rehabilitating Amar'e Stoudemire as he practiced his post moves nearby, Felton worked his way around an invisible semicircle, about 16 feet from the basket, his hands often outstretched, impatiently seeking Walker's passes. Sweat began dripping onto his orange and blue Nikes as his eyes remained locked on the rim.
Felton, who returned this season to replace the popular point guard Jeremy Lin, had had consecutive lackluster games, shooting a combined 7 for 27 against the Denver Nuggets and the Nets. His pregame routine seemed to be equal parts penance and exorcism.
"It's work," he said. "But you put in the time, whether you're hitting or not. My shots weren't falling, but they're shots I need to take. So you go out there and try to find the stroke."
Against the Lakers, Felton shot 9 of 26, but he still attacked the basket with layups and floaters while drawing the Lakers' interior defenders from cutting teammates. The Knicks won, 116-107, and Felton finished with 18 points and 9 assists. Perhaps more important, he had a plus-9 differential, and the team had only six turnovers. "I went back to what I've been doing all season: attacking the basket, creating opportunities, running the offense," Felton said after the game. "But when something's not working, you move on to something else."
His teammate Jason Kidd, who has been instrumental in Felton's success, added: "Ray can run the show as well as anybody. He's proven that."
In 2010, during his best statistical season in the N.B.A., Felton was sent to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony trade, along with three other players, two draft picks and cash.
"I'm not going to lie, it was tough to leave," he said. "I was shocked, but you move on. I loved it here before, and I love it here now. I just try and think about next day, next game."
For Felton, 28, the timing could not have been worse. He had just spent more than half of his first season with the Knicks (after signing a two-year, $15.8 million deal) establishing an effective two-man game with the team's lone superstar, Stoudemire.
Felton had been trying to live up to Coach Mike D'Antoni and Stoudemire's idea of the ideal point guard — the two-time league most valuable player Steve Nash. And he was getting close.
Upon his return this season — after a brief and unhappy detour to Portland — he quickly won his teammates' admiration for his positive attitude.
"I see a totally different Raymond right now in just his mind-set and focus," Anthony said at the preseason media day in October. "For him, any other player could have easily said they didn't want to come back after being traded. He loved it here, and he never wanted to leave."
Last season, a similar thing happened to Lin, whom Felton will be defending Monday night, when the Houston Rockets visit Madison Square Garden. If Lin had not become so popular in his brief time in New York, he probably would not have left the Knicks as a free agent, signing a backloaded four-year deal with the Rockets that could be worth as much as $28.8 million.
If Lin had not signed elsewhere, the Knicks would not have traded Jared Jeffries and spare parts to Portland to reacquire Felton and then signed him to a three-year, $10 million deal. And Felton would not be the starting point guard for the resurgent Knicks (18-5).
"It's always a lot more fun when you're winning," Felton said. "You're moving the ball around, everybody's scoring, and everybody's succeeding. Everyone's out there just having fun."
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