article is about chandler's wrist injury, but i bolded the important part. and everyone says mda is inflexible...
To get away from basketball during the All-Star weekend, Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin went fishing, and forward Amar’e Stoudemire spent time snorkeling with his family. Center Tyson Chandler, meanwhile, attempted to find his grip.Chandler, who hurt his left wrist against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 19, wore tape on the wrist Tuesday morning as the Knicks practiced for the first time since ending the season’s first half with a loss to the Heat in Miami. He struggled to make outlet passes in that game, and the pain persisted during the down time. Still, he maintained that he will be in the starting lineup Wednesday night when the Knicks (17-18) host the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Garden.
“Just trying to catch the ball and everything, it’s still difficult,” Chandler said.
The Knicks’ schedule allows for some rehabilitation this week as Mike D’Antoni experiments with lineups in search of offensive rhythm and defensive consistency. After the game against Cleveland, the Knicks will not play again until Sunday when they travel to Boston for the beginning of a four-game, six-night trip. In between will be much-needed practice time as well as rest. Chandler, for his part, did not rule out sitting to heal if he does not see improvement in the coming days.
“I’ll just monitor it. If I feel like it’s doing more harm than good, then maybe we’ll discuss it,” Chandler said.
Aside from Chandler’s condition, D’Antoni smiled upon the reality that his bench will be at full disposal. Rookies Iman Shumpert (knee) and Josh Harrellson (wrist) are expected to return from injuries. Harrellson broke his right wrist on Jan. 21, and Shumpert, who has proven to be a dynamic defender with 3.18 steals per 48 minutes, was sidelined for a week due to tendinitis in his left knee. Harrellson made 35% of his three-point attempts in his first 16 games.
D’Antoni acknowledged the dilemma he now faces in finding minutes for each player.
“It’s not humanly possible to play 12 guys in a normal rotation. Ten probably. Eleven maybe,” he said. “That’s how we have to do it. We’ll see how injuries go, who’s playing well. The idea is you got to be ready because (the player) who doesn’t play today might play tomorrow. It might be a 10-man rotation for back-to-backs, but it might not be the same 10. You might have another guy come in. Instead of the 10th guy . . . the 11th guy comes in. Something like that.”
D’Antoni said that Baron Davis and Lin would be charged with ball-handling responsibilities as Davis continues to work into game shape after returning from a herniated disk. Davis said he was being patient with his body as he struggled through a 1-for-12 shooting night in the loss to the Heat.
“Once we all get our legs we can play with that energy and apply pressure on opponents,” Davis said.
For the coach who once saw his season slipping away, talk of renewed energy countered any thoughts of Chandler, his anchor, being lost to more recovery time.
“He’ll be fine,” D’Antoni said. “He can rest in the summertime.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/tyson-chandler-ny-knicks-admits-wrist-woes-article-1.1030293#ixzz1nnDEImlS
2/29/2012 12:27 PM
