Heat’s Wade returns, Knicks’ Anthony out
January 27, 2012
MIAMI (AP)—Carmelo Anthony is hurting. Dwyane Wade no longer is.
Anthony sat out the New York Knicks’ game at Miami on Friday night, acontest where Wade made his return to the starting lineup after a six-gameabsence to recover from a sprained right ankle.
Anthony is dealing with an array of thumb, wrist and ankle problems.
“I’ve just got to be smart,” Anthony said Friday morning.
“I think I was trying to be a superhero and trying to prove to my teammatesthat I can play hurt, trying to hide it. But at the end of the day me doingthat, it wasn’t really doing nothing but hurting the team. … Me being limitedout there on the court, it wasn’t doing anything for me, for my psyche, for mybody. It was just making it worse.”
In other words, perhaps Anthony is taking his cue from how Wade dealt withhis most recent injury.
Wade was injured in Denver two weeks ago and was listed day to daythroughout his absence. He returned to on-court conditioning several days ago,went through a hard pregame workout in Detroit on Wednesday night, then did morework in Miami on Thursday and participated in the team’s shootaround practiceFriday morning.
“He’s healthy,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wade. “He’s ready togo. … We were very, very patient with this.”
The Heat are 8-1 without Wade this season. After seeing Wade work Fridaymorning, Heat teammate LeBron James seemed impressed.
“He looks good,” James said. “He looks like he’s about ready to play.”
Anthony hasn’t looked his best for a while.
He had a career-low one point in New York’s win at Charlotte on Tuesday, andin New York’s six games from Jan. 16 through Wednesday the perennial All-Star isshooting just under 32 percent from the floor, along with a dismal 5 for 28 from3-point range.
Anthony missed New York’s game on Jan. 14 against Oklahoma City because of asprained right ankle and sprained left wrist, and neither problem has gottenmuch—if any—better since.
“He can’t make a shot and he’s playing through a lot of pain and it’s notgoing away and it just kept getting worse,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said.“We’ve got to have him 100 percent or we don’t have a chance. If not, it’scrazy to keep going.”
Anthony said he and the team made the decision after a series ofconversations following a loss at Cleveland on Wednesday and during New York’soff day on Thursday.
D’Antoni said Anthony underwent therapy Friday morning, adding that hewouldn’t expect to see him back on the floor before the Knicks’ home gameagainst Detroit on Tuesday.
“He’s just struggling through some ankle and wrist and hand injuries and hejust can’t perform the way he needs to or the way he wants to,” D’Antoni said.“We decided, the medical staff thought it would be best to take the weekendoff. Maybe Tuesday.”
The Knicks are still missing point guard Baron Davis, who has not playedthis season because of a herniated disc in his back. Davis was on the floor withthe Knicks for their shootaround practice Friday morning, but D’Antoni said theteam is “going to wait until he can be NBA ready and he’s not quite thereyet.”
Even with his struggles, Anthony entered Friday fifth in the NBA in scoringat 23.6 points per game. His 39-percent success rate from the field so far wouldbe the lowest of his career, and the Knicks have opened the season with 11losses in the first 18 games.
Playing through one injury is something Anthony has done countless times.Playing through several injuries now simply took a toll, he said.
“It’s a combination, the ankle, the wrist, the thumb,” Anthony said.“It’s just messing up me mentally, not being able to go out there and do what Ican do, be there for my teammates, perform out there at the highest level. Thatwas kind of bothering me a little bit.”
If Anthony and Wade played, it would have been a matchup where four of thetop five draft picks from 2003—James, Anthony, Chris Bosh and Wade—all wouldhave been on the court together.
“It’s still the Knicks and the Heat,” Bosh said. “It’s still a biggame.”
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