Knicks" Smith Raises Eyebrows in Twitter Feud With Pistons" Guard In the hours between Wednesday's victory over the Atlanta Hawks and Thursday's game against the Houston Rockets, the Knicks" J. R. Smith somehow found the time to take on another opponent: Brandon Jennings of the Detroit Pistons. In an escalating series of tweets, Smith appeared to threaten Jennings for picking on his younger brother, Chris, a guard with the Knicks. Speaking before Thursday's game, J. R. Smith acknowledged he was upset, but he said the situation had gotten blown out of proportion. "There's a way to threaten somebody, and that's not the way to publicly threaten someone," said Smith, who missed the first five games of the season for violating the league's drug policy. I know Brandon. Brandon's not that type of person, and I'm not that type of person. We had a pretty good relationship before this. The N.B.A. was looking into the matter, and Coach Mike Woodson, who does not have a Twitter account and said he was not into the "social media game," said he planned to address Smith's Twitter habits with him. "My whole thing with that is, if you're going to tweet, tweet something positive," Woodson said. This is not the first time that Smith has run afoul of social media etiquette. Last season, the league fined him $25,000 for posting an inappropriate photo of a woman on his Twitter account. On Thursday, Smith acknowledged his topsy-turvy relationship with social media. He said he might deactivate his account. "I'm always in trouble on Twitter," he said. I don't know what it is. Trying to shake it. Chris Smith's employment has been a lingering subplot for the Knicks this season. The Knicks not only retained Smith after several lackluster appearances in the preseason, but they also gave him a guaranteed contract. Woodson has acknowledged that Chris Smith's ties to his brother enhanced his chances of making the team. Other players around the league apparently have taken notice. J. R. Smith's feud with Jennings started Wednesday when Jennings took to Twitter and wrote, "Wait wait wait, JR Smith's brother is in the NBA but @PoohJeter & @BBROWNLAU isn't. Call me hater but not Rollin!!! The two players Jennings referred to, Eugene Jeter and Bobby Brown, no longer play in the N.B.A. Jennings deleted the tweet, but not soon enough. J. R. Smith logged onto Twitter shortly after the Knicks" victory over the Hawks and, without mentioning Jennings by name, seemed to blast him, writing that he had "no respect" for young players who "pop at the mouth." Smith posted another message in which he wrote he might send some of his "street homies" to Detroit, presumably to confront Jennings. Smith punctuated the post with the hashtag "#DeadSerious." The post was later deleted. "I was definitely frustrated, because you get tired of people trying to pick on your little brother," Smith said Thursday. I'm going to step up for him, good, bad or ugly. It's not just Brandon. It's anybody who says anything about him. Twitter has been a dangerous place for N.B.A. players this week. The Los Angeles Clippers" Matt Barnes was fined $25,000 by the league Thursday for going on a profane Twitter rant of his own after he was ejected from Wednesday's win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. As for Smith, he said had always been friendly with Jennings - the two have worked out together in California - and said he was open to patching things up. "I don't have his number or anything," Smith said, "so if somebody wants to get that to me, I'll take it."