NEW YORK — Shane Battier may be the only player in the NBA who uses the word “serendipitous” but leave it to a Duke product to break out that Scrabble word.
Battier was asked Friday how he felt about the Knicks breaking the Memphis Grizzlies NBA-record of 12 straight postseason losses and he came up with this gem.
“It was a serendipitous turn of events for Mike Miller and I,” Battier said.
“How many NBA players use the word serendipitous?” Miller asked. “You’re at the top of your game, brother.”
Battier and Miller were on the Memphis teams that lost 12 in a row in the mid-2000s. The Knicks broke that record Thursday night by losing Game 3 to the Miami Heat, 87-70, and have now dropped 13 straight postseason games dating back to April 2001.
That record could be stretched to 14 in the Knicks are swept in Game 4 on Sunday, a game in which the injured Amar’e Stoudemire may play.
“It’s tough to win in the playoffs,” Battier said. “It’s tough to win in the NBA in general. It’s tough to win in the playoffs, even one game. People don’t realize the amount of preparation and effort that goes into winning one single playoff game. I don’t care what seed you are or where you’re at.
“So I know what that feels like, going 0-for-12, getting swept three years in a row. It’s I think a little tougher than what they’re going through, but it’s not easy.”
Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony are 0-7 in the playoffs as Knicks and had no connection to the 2004 outfit that was swept by the Nets or the 2001 team that lost its final two against Toronto.
Miller and Battier lost three straight Western Conference first-round playoff series from 2004-6.
The Grizzlies fell to San Antonio in 2004, Phoenix in 2005 and Dallas in 2006.
“When we were going through it, we played great teams in the first round,” Miller said. “We were younger.”
Asked if he could envision another team breaking the Knicks record of 13 and counting, Battier said he could.
“No, records are made to be broken,” he said. “Somewhere, someone will trump it.”
