Carmelo Anthony playing through right shoulder injury
The New York Knicks snapped a six-game losing streak on Friday night, but Carmelo Anthony also offered an update on his health.
The New York Knicks ended a six-game losing streak with a 116-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, led by Carmelo Anthony and his 26 points,10 assists and six rebounds. But the Knicks have still won just three times in their last 13 games, counting Saturday night’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, and between the two recent games Anthony offered a seemingly impromptu health update.
According to the New York Daily News, Anthony acknowledged after Friday night’s game he is dealing with a right shoulder injury.
"“It’s bad,” Anthony told the News after Friday’s victory over the Bucks, when the forward nearly put up a triple-double and hit the go-ahead basket in the final minute. “You know what it is, it’s an adjustment that you have to make on the fly. Like some days it feels good, some days it’s tight. Throughout the course of the game, certain shots, certain moves, you feel like the strength isn’t there. So it’s just a matter of figuring out how to play through it. What’s working? What’s not?“It feels good during the game. And then you irritate it. And then you kind of have to work backwards again to get it back stronger. But I’m constant around-the-clock treatment.”"
Anthony also said he originally suffered the injury against the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 11,and he sat out Dec. 15 against the Golden State Warriors. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Knicks’ recent slide from a 14-10 record and in the Eastern Conference playoff picture to their current 17-20 mark started after that win over the Lakers.
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Coupled with his comments earlier in the week suggesting he’s the scapegoat for the Knicks’ struggles, and Phil Jackson’s criticism of his play earlier in the season, Anthony seems to be searching for a way out of New York. It’s hard to tell if any real trade rumors will now surface, but if interested teams call Jackson will presumably be willing to listen.