Carmelo Anthony Sprains Right Ankle, Questionable For Wednesday
Tuesday’s victory over the Boston Celtics was mostly a sweet one for Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks, save for Carmelo Anthony‘s sprained ankle.
Last night was almost the perfect night for New York Knicks fans.
Almost.
As has been the case for most of my life, even the Knicks victories feature losses.
The good news is that the Knicks moved to 20-20, making Wednesday morning the first time New York has woken up to a .500 basketball team since December 19. Even better, the victory was fueled by the savior of many marriages in the New York Metropolitan area, Kristaps Porzingis!
KP would have his fourth 25-plus point scoring night, two behind Karl-Anthony Towns for the most amongst rookies, dropping 26 points, six rebounds, and two blocks. At points, the man simply seemed unguardable, particularly in the first quarter when he dropped 17.
Also of note was Jerian Grant, who had his best performance of his still young rookie campaign, going for 16 points and eight assists in 23 minutes of play. Who knows, maybe Derek Fisher will finally use the most athletic guard the Knicks have had in a decade now!
Okay, I’m trying to butter you up for the bad news…
Related Story: 25 Best Players to Play for the New York Knicks
If you somehow missed the headline, then I regret to inform you that Carmelo Anthony went down with a sprained right ankle in the second quarter. Even worse, Melo had been getting his shot back!
While he may still be in the midst of the fourth-worst shooting season of his career, Anthony has been on a bit of a tear recently. In the three games coming into Tuesday’s matchup with the Celtics, Melo had gone 56 percent from the field and posted 25 points, 20 points, and 24 points respectively. That scoring spurt continued into last night’s game, with Anthony putting up 17 points in just 18 minutes of action, shooting 7-for-10 in the process, including a perfect 2-for-2 mark from behind the arc.
Then, late in the first half, Melo collided with a referee (conspiracy?) and twisted his ankle. He’d leave the game with 1:16 remaining in the second quarter and would only play a grand total of 19 seconds in the third before leaving the game for good. X-rays were negative.
Head coach Derek Fisher has stated that he’ll likely decide on Melo’s availability for the Knicks game against the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night at game time, meaning we won’t know his status until later tonight. But is playing Anthony really a necessity right now?
Without him last night, the Knicks still managed to topple one of the better young teams in the Eastern Conference. Plus, Kristaps Porzingis was in foul trouble for much of the second half and eventually fouled out. Guys like Arron Afflalo have showed the ability to step up and with the way both KP and Robin Lopez are playing down low recently, there’s plenty of reason to believe Anthony can sit out a game or two and wait until he’s healthy.
Sprained ankles are an injury that can linger and really derail an entire season for a player. With Melo just getting back into his shooting groove, as well as playing the best team basketball of his career, now isn’t the time to rush him back. Considering the Knicks next opponents include games at Brooklyn and the Memphis Grizzlies as well as home games against the Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz, now is the time for Fisher to let Anthony relax and recuperate for an eventual playoff push.
With young guys like Kristaps, Grant, and Langston Galloway just a month or two away from making their first playoff push, it’s vital the Knicks have a veteran presence like Melo healthy and at 100% to lead the way down the stretch. If that means maybe losing a game in Memphis or home against Utah in January, so be it.
Plus, I really want to see KP be the focal point of this offense for an entire game with the way the Knicks are playing right now. I’m predicting a triple-digit scoring night for the Zinger against Andrea Bargnani Wednesday night. In the iconic words of our forefathers, it’s about to be lit.
All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.