Category: News

Carmelo Anthony Has Torn Labrum, Surgery Not Likely

Melo_shoulder

An MRI on Wednesday (May 22)  revealed that Carmelo Anthony played the last two months of the season with a partially torn labrum.

Had the injury been a full tear, Anthony would have been required to undergo surgery and a 3-5 month recovery period. The Knicks medical staff is hopeful Anthony can make a full recovery via 3-4 weeks of rest. He will be reevaluated in late July.

Anthony originally suffered the labrum tear during a collision with Indiana Pacer David West during a regular season game on April 14. Anthony played all 12 Knick playoff games before the team was eliminated last week.

Anthony shot 45% during the regular season but saw his efficiency dip to 40% during the playoffs.

***********************************

All things considered, Melo had a great year and one of the best of his career. He secured his first scoring title, lead the Knicks to 54 wins (a first in 13 years) and a decent playoff run. Nonetheless, I believe this injury, and the other ones he suffered throughout the season, is a clear indicator a major change needs to happen regarding Anthony’s “role.”

What role am I speaking of? The one that’s required Anthony to play the power forward position for most of this past season. Melo’s a strong small forward who should only play the four in spots. Banging with bruisers inside like David West on the regular is too much over the long haul of a season. We can only hope Amar’e Stoudemire actually stays healthy for once and pulls his weight at his natural position.

Tyson Chandler Named to NBA All-Defense 1st Team

TysonChandler

Tyson Chandler notched another defensive accolade with the NBA’s selection of him the league’s 2013 All-Defense 1st team.

Chandler, who won the Defensive Player of the Year last year but the was named to the league’s second All-Defense team, had the distinctions flipped for 2013. Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol beat out Chandler for Defensive Player of the year for this season.

Chandler averaged 10 points, 10 rebounds and 1 block this season. He received 24 votes in the All-Defense team voting, and joins other first team selections in Joakim Noah, LeBron James, Tony Allen, Chris Paul and Serge Ibaka.

***********************

You have to love the irony. Just days after being torched by Roy Hibbert and having one of his worst defensive games of the year, Chandler gets an award that many fans would call debatable. I’ll talk more about that later today, but for now let’s hope Chandler uses this to find his own motivation for tonight’s huge game four in Indiana.

Flagrant Elbow Earns JR Smith Suspension for Game 4 Against Celtics

JRSmith_3

The NBA announced late last night that JR Smith will serve a one game suspension for his flagrant 2 elbow on Jason Terry during the fourth quarter of game 3 against the Celtics Friday night.

The play came when Terry attempted a hard swipe of the ball on the perimeter, resulting in Smith swinging an elbow that first landed on Terry’s chest and then face. Terry had to be restrained by teammates and officials. Smith was ejected after the play was reviewed.

The Knicks went on to win the game 90-76 and take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Smith has been averaging 16 points thus far in the playoffs and is the Knicks second leading scorer.

******************************

This decision is just another reminder to the Knicks that as one of the premier teams in the league, they’ll be extra scrutiny on everything they do. Much like Kevin Durant got a BS fine for simply doing a throat slash, the Knicks have been victim of overreactive disciplinary actions from the NBA front office. Melo got one earlier in the season for attempting to confront Kevin Garnett after the game despite no punches or up-close confrontation happening. Hell, KG choked a Knicks players after a game in the 2011 and there wasn’t a peep from the NBA about a suspension.

In a way, I’m glad JR learned how important he is to the team and not to risk his contributions on silly retaliatory shots. Nonetheless, I still want the sweep today so someone else needs to step up and bury the boys in the green. I’m looking at you, Chris Copeland.

[youtube http://youtu.be/1dbh-xgZxjI]

Sixth Man of the Year: JR Smith’s Top 10 Plays of the 2012-2013 Season

JRSmith_SixthManAward

It was no surprise to Knicks fans that JR Smith was crowned the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award for his breakout 2012-2013 season. Smith came into the year disappointed that he didn’t land a starter’s spot, but then he embraced the role and became the team’s most essential offensive threat behind Carmelo Anthony. And it wasn’t just his career-high 18 points per game — JR was one of only six players (Lebron, Kobe, Durant, Rudy Gay and Russell Westbrook) this year to average at least 17 points, 5 rebounds and 1.3 steals.

We’re going to see a lot more JR highlights before the playoffs end, but for now feast on the below JR Top 10 courtesy of NBA.com. Knicks management better pay this man his worth in the offseason.

JR TALKS SIXTH MAN AWARD

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-F6f7h0fiY&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

JR SMITH TOP 10 OF 2012-2013 SEASON

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5s8aHosHJE&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Carmelo Anthony Wins First NBA Scoring Title

Melo_Celtics

Carmelo Anthony has long been viewed as the “best scorer” in the league by many observers. Now that title now has more credence behind with the confirmation of Anthony winning his first NBA scoring title.

Although initially coming into this season claiming that his days over scoring 30-plus regularly were over due to the improved Knicks roster, constant injuries to the team forced Anthony to be a nightly prolific scorer.

The Thunder’s Kevin Durant was ahead in the scoring race for much of the season, but a strong Anthony surge in April saw him average 37 points over 8 games to average 28.7 for the year despite resting the last two games.  Durant finished with a season average of 28.1 points.

****************************

Bravo, Melo! What he did this season was the epitome of carrying a team on your back.Without our second best scorer in Amar’e Stoudemire for most of the year, Melo took the challenge every night of playing power forward, taking a pounding, not getting calls, and still pulling out victories.

LeBron is still the best player in the league, but Melo should finish up a distant second in the MVP race. Let’s hope Melo has saved some of that hot scoring for the playoffs.

Rasheed Wallace Announces Second Retirement

RasheedWallce

After suffering another setback with his left foot injury on Monday, Rasheed Wallace has announced a second retirement.

In his 21 games this year, the 38-year-old Wallace was an instrumental part of the Knicks early season defense and three-point shooting success. However, he hasn’t played a game since mid-December due to a stress fracture on his left foot.

Wallace underwent surgery and attempted a return on Monday against the Charlotte Bobcats. After 3 minutes he was forced to sit after re-aggravating the injury.

“Rasheed has given this team everything he had,” said Knicks head coach Mike Woodson said in a statement. “He is a winner, true professional and leader on and off the court. Due to his injury, he will not be available to play for us during the playoffs.”

Wallace averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds during his Knicks tenure. His retirement opened a roster spot which the Knicks have already filled with former Wizards players Earl Barron.

***************************************

Sad news but not surprising. I wasn’t expecting Wallace to come in and be a big contributor with so much time off. The fact that he couldn’t even go five minutes made this an easy decision. Still, you have to salute Sheedfor making the move quickly to allow the Knicks a chance to work in a new player.

As has been for the last three years, Knicks fans are left to wonder what this team could have accomplishedwith everyone healthy for a full season.

Knicks Resign Quentin Richardson for Rest of Season

 QuentinRichardson

After waiving center Solomon Jones on Monday following two subpar games, the Knicks announced yesterday the surprise resigning of 12-year veteran Quentin Richardson.

Richardson has been out of the NBA this season, but spent 4 years with the Knicks from 2005-2009. During that span, he averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds.

In his last NBA stint in 2011, he averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds over 48 games for the Orlando Magic.

************************************

The Knicks made it clear after Jones got dropped that they were looking for another wing player. That made most Knicks fans believe all our bigs were set to go. Then after Rasheed Wallace had to leave Monday’s Bobcats games early because of a sore left foot, the talk went back to possibly signing another backup big.

No one saw Quentin Richardson returning to the Garden. I admit, I have bad memories of those dark seasons. However, Q-Rich has always been a no-nonsense guy who as a Knick had several confrontations with Celtics players. At the very least, he’ll be physical. Now we don’t need him being as physical as we see below, but I wouldn’t mind him popping Garnett one time. Welcome back, Quentin!

Carmelo Anthony Passes LeBron James as NBA’s Top Jersey Seller

Melo_Celtics

The media attention given to Carmelo Anthony’s recent scoring tear has translated into a bump in merchandise sales, as Anthony has now passed LeBron James for the top-selling jersey in the NBA.

Although the Knicks as a team have lead the league in merchandise sales since early in the season, there hasn’t been a Knicks player to lead the league in jersey sales since the 2001-2002 season. Last year, Anthony was ranked fourth in jersey sales.

Over the last week, Anthony has averaged 42 points and 13 rebounds, lifting him over Kevin Durant as the league’s top scorer with 28.4 points a game.

****************************

While it’s nice to see Melo and the Knicks getting recognized for their excellent play, I hope they brush this and other sudden media accolades off. They need to remember how critics had dismissed their capabilities throughout the season. I want the hunger and poise they’ve had over the win streak to translate throughout their playoff run.

[Video] Carmelo Anthony’s Game of Thrones Season 3 Promo

You know nothing, Carmelo Anthony –Ygritte

Melo_GOT

I now bring before you Lord Carmelo Anthony of House Knickerbocker! As if the anticipation for season 3 of the critically-acclaimed hit series Game of Thrones isn’t high enough, HBO has linked up with the NBA for some cross-promotion. If you get a chance to check out the Youtube comments, you’ll see there’s a bunch of irate Game of Thrones purists (read — NERDS), who are highly upset at seeing the series “sullied” (wink wink to Daenerys’ special soldiers) by Melo’s appearance. Well, if you’re a Game of Thrones AND Knicks nerd like myself, you love this.

Game of Thrones has its season three premiere on March 31.

Stoudemire’s Season Ends with Second Knee Surgery

Stat

Amar’e Stoudemire’s productive comeback to the 2012-2013 season is now over with the confirmation that he will miss at least six weeks to have another knee debridement surgery.

Stoudemire missed the first two months of the season following the November 1 procedure on his left knee for a burst cyst. The pending surgery will be on his right knee and was discovered when Stoudemire complained of soreness in both knees following the Knicks’s 95-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Stoudemire has come off the bench since his January 1 return, but saw a marked increase in minutes after Carmelo Anthony went down with a sore knee in a March 4 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stoudemire had been on a 30-minute playing cap per his last surgery.

Stoudemire was averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field.

At press time, the Knicks are expected to open the rotation back up to include additional role players like Chris Copeland.

********************************************************

Absolutely devastating. Per the tentative timeline, Stoudemire could be back in the playoffs by the end of the first or sometime in the second round if the Knicks get that far. But do we really want to risk playing Stoudemire fresh out of surgery in the grueling, physical atmosphere of the playoffs? This news pretty much declares to me he’s done for the year.

This puts all of the scoring load back on Melo and JR. When they’re hot, it will be thrilling stuff. When they’re not, it’ll be like watching a cat playing with a mouse (ie. a slow death). That goes for the rest of our squad — we are truly living and dying by the three-point shot for the rest of the year. This is the second player we’ve lost to injury (Rasheed Wallace being the first), and our star player in Carmelo Anthony has already missed 10 games from the wear and tear of heavy minutes and playing at power forward for most of the year. Coach Woodson said he planned on trying to get Melo’s minutes down to 35. For that to happen, someone has to step up big and I mean Linsanity-like big.

The Knicks front office have some tough decisions to make this off-season.