The latest on Carmelo Anthony’s Knee.
Posted by Tina Cervasio on March 18, 2013 – 7:52 pm
Carmelo Anthony is in Utah and worked out during Knicks shoot around this morning on the side, but he will not play tonight against the Jazz. He, Tyson Chandler and Kurt Thomas are listed as questionable.
During the workout, Anthony ran, did lateral movements, drove to the hoop, repeated layups, jumpers, free throws and looked to be moving significantly better than when we last saw him take himself out of the Denver game Wednesday.
When Carmelo was finished, drenched in sweat, he came over an talk to the media for the first time in 5 days saying … since getting his right knee drained in New York on Thursday: “I feel better, I feel much better.”
He has absolutely no more discomfort, says he has his mobility back, and the stiffness he had in his right knee, before the fluid was drained … is all gone.
Carmelo says he can feel the difference and it is like “night and day … being able to move laterally, jump.” He hopes now to get back to what he was doing on the court before this stiffness started over 3 weeks ago.
His knee felt better Saturday. While Carmelo said “they day after was tough”, he said two days after getting his knee drained, he felt like his knee was “back to normal because their wasn’t (anymore) fluid in there. Now it’s just a matter of getting that pop back, that power back.”
After going back to New York on Thursday, Carmelo said he learned from doctors, the fluid in the back of the knee was caused by a slight hamstring pull or some type of injury with his hamstring. He reiterated all this discomfort over the last three weeks, was in the back of the knee, and this injury had nothing to do with the actually structure of the knee, any of the ligaments. He says he had tweaked his hamstring a little bit, the muscle was tight, and fluid drained from there. Carmelo says he is comfortable with this diagnosis, and saw all the results “with my own eyes rather than somebody just telling me.”
The plan now is to take it day-by-day. Carmelo plans to work out again tonight at Energy Solutions Arena before the his Knicks teammates play the Jazz, and get a couple of workouts in tomorrow back in New York, and see how he feels on Wednesday and take it from there. He did not rule out playing Wednesday at home versus the Magic, but he didn’t say he would be ready to play either.
Carmelo says there are no plans, or need for any further procedures on his right knee at the end of the season, he says, “I feel good, my knee feels good, my body feels good.” And there is no concern that the hamstring would produce any more fluid, “it was from me just over compensating, with my knee … the hamstring … just trying to use one without the other, just playing and not giving it rest, not taking care of it ahead of time. Like I said I was being a bit naive with myself.”
The Knicks are struggling on this road trip, now 0-4, yet they are still hanging around the top of the Eastern Conference. Carmelo says even though the team has had a rough road trip, “Our confidence is still there. We’re second/third in the Eastern Conference, top of our division and we’re just trying to get everybody back, everybody healthy… to make this run.”