Papabear Says

returning Anthony says he hurt Knicks by playing with injury, predicts division title

By MARC BERMAN
Posted: 12:11 PM, March 20, 2013

Carmelo Anthony.

NBAE/Getty Images

Carmelo Anthony.

Carmelo Anthony said he’s ready to return Wednesday night vs. Orlando and regrets trying to play with a swollen knee because it hurt the team.

After missing the last three games of the West Coast trip and six of their past eight with his swollen knee that he got drained, Anthony wants to erase the memories of the past two weeks and feels the club will still win the Atlantic Division.

“I’m not rushing back,’’ Anthony said as the Knicks return from their 1-4 West Coast trip. “I know how important this stretch run is for me and the whole organization. I went out there and tried to play hurt and it didn’t work. I was only hurting my teammates by going out and trying to play. I’m not rushing, but tonight I feel good and have the last couple of days.’’

Coach Mike Woodson said the offense desperately needs Anthony's boost but added the defense has to maintain its recent excellence from the past three games on the Western swing – in Portland, Los Angeles and Utah.

Besides being a wreck on the offensive end, Anthony’s defense slipped noticeably.

“I couldn’t (defend),’’ Anthony said. “If you can’t move laterally, there’s no reason to be out there.’’

The undermanned Knicks still lead the Nets by one game in the Atlantic Division.

“We still believe we are going to win the division,’’ Anthony said. “That’s how are confidence is. We got to get it going get on the court and start winning games. We're going to win our division."

Anthony’s last game was the nightmare in Denver when he pulled himself with 9:45 left in the third quarter amid the Nuggets’ rout after shooting 3 of 12. Thirty minutes after the game, Anthony came out of the locker room and said he was headed back to New York to get his knee drained.

“As far as the knee drain goes, it was something way farfetched for me,’’ Anthony said. “In the course of the (Denver) game, I knew there were things I couldn’t do in the game. I tried not to think about it but my knee was taking over everything. I told myself I’d try one more time in the second half, get stretched and warmed up. There was one shot early in the third quarter, I couldn’t jump and couldn’t move.’’

They still face major big-man issues as starting center Tyson Chandler is out another week with a bulging disk in his spine and a recently revived Kurt Thomas is now out probably the rest of the regular season with a stress reaction in his right foot. They join Amar’e Stoudemire and Rasheed Wallace, both out until the playoffs.

Kenyon Martin will start at center with Anthony at power forward and a three-guard alignment of Iman Shumpert, Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni.

“We got to get healthy,’’ added Anthony, who has missed 13 games. “The guys that need to get healthy, need to get healthy. And the guys who are playing need to step up. That’s all I got to say about that.’’

Anthony repeated his knee feels “night and day’’ in the wake of the knee drainage and his mind is clear knowing now he doesn’t have articular cartilage damage.

“I’m not think about my knee at all,’’ Anthony said. “I feel good. It’s just playing ball at this point.’’

And it’s no more excuses.

Read more: Returning Anthony says he hurt Knicks by playing with injury, predicts division title http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblog/returning_anthony_title_predicts_ikJNEwVuIsLlxZ3drVd3aM#ixzz2O7brtwtV

HE has a tendency to play through injury. There are only a few like KObe, Jordan, and Lebron that can play through injury.

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