Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire could be out vs. Bulls
December 18, 2014 by AL IANNAZZONE / al.iannazzone@newsday.comAmar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony sit on the
The Knicks could be without Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire for Thursday's game against the Bulls.
Anthony has soreness in his troublesome left knee and he admitted to being told by "multiple people" that he should sit for a while and rest it. But Anthony has said he wants to try and play with it, especially with the Knicks off to a 5-22 start. He is officially questionable.
Stoudemire will be out with what's being labeled "a recovery day."
The Knicks already won't have J.R. Smith (partial tear of left plantar fascia), Iman Shumpert (dislocated left shoulder) and Andrea Bargnani (strained calf).
For the Bulls, Derrick Rose (illness) and Taj Gibson (right ankle injury) are questionable.
Anthony's situation is a concern because it's been ongoing and there has been talk of him needing surgery to fix the problem. Neither the Knicks nor Anthony had ever said what his ailment is. But Anthony, who missed a game last week because of his knee, said he aggravated it Tuesday during the game against Dallas.
"I've had multiple people say kind of just shut it down or just take time off," Anthony said at Thursday's morning shootaround. "At the end of the day it's hard for me to just do that right now with what's happening with the team. So I'm just trying to be smart about it."
Anthony was asked what it's going to take for him to shut it down.
"I don't know, man," he said. "I take some days off, some days it feels like I can go. Some days it feels like I have everything. The other day it was sore in the first half. I didn't have no lift on my shot. In the second half my lift came back a little bit. It's going to be off and on like that."
Anthony said he would test it at shootaround and see how he feels before the game. If he sits, it will give him three days off. Anthony said the Knicks "shut me down" Wednesday and wouldn't let him take part in practice.
After Thursday, the Knicks have a back-to-back Saturday and Sunday and then three off days before they play the Wizards on Christmas Day.
"I'm just trying to see over the next couple of days how it reacts, things like that," Anthony said. "It gets frustrating not knowing what's going to happen. So for me, you're taking it as the days come."
In Stoudemire's case, he and Derek Fisher say there is nothing wrong with him. Fisher said they plan to give Stoudemire the night off because it's three games in four nights.
All along, the Knicks have maintained they want to do what they can to preserve Stoudemire, who has had multiple knee surgeries over the years.
"It's always good to have [recovery days]," Stoudemire said. "Recovery days are something that we all know is going to happen throughout this season, so it's to be expected.
"There's so many games in a short amount of time that depends on minutes played. A lot of games have been crunched into the earlier part of the season. So I've been called on to play a lot more than I was expected to. It's a smart decision to rest and get ready for another brutal month."
Fisher said the plan is to have Stoudemire for the back-to-back afternoon games against the Suns and in Toronto this weekend.
"We're starting to get to a point where if we don't get this one in now, then it carries over into next week and then on and on," Fisher said. "We feel like if we can get this one now, we have the afternoon back-to-backs, but then we have another space between then and Christmas. So we felt like this would give him the better space than maybe waiting until the weekend."
12/18/2014 3:06 PM