The Knicks have officially announced today that forward Carmelo Anthony has been diagnosed with sore knees and is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons.
During an interview on, ESPN New York 98.7 FM The Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Show, Knicks coach Mike Woodson admitted that Anthony asked to be taken out of the game due to some discomfort he was feeling in his knees, before suffering the injury in the second quarter.
However Woodson decided to leave Anthony in the game, and as a result Anthony tripped without making any contact with anyone, falling to the floor and injuring his knees.
“Melo was hurt,” Woodson said. “For him to ask me to come out of the game before he actually took that spill made me realize that something wasn’t right. He’s never ever, ever, even hinted about coming out of the game before Monday. I play him too much in that regard. Melo’s a trooper — he’s a warrior, he’s a tough kid.”
When Woodson was asked why he decided to keep Anthony in the game after he requested to be taken out, Woodson blamed himself for being stubborn.
“I should have taken him out,” Woodson said. “Stubborn coach — I just didn’t.”
“Maybe I should have taken him out before he actually stumbled and took the fall,” Woodson said. “But again, I’m thinking during the game, ‘Hey, he’ll play through it. He’ll figure it out.’
“But he was hurt. He walked out after he took the spill and he didn’t come back, and that’s not Melo-like. Obviously, his knee is bothering him.”
After the game Anthony revealed his knee has been an issue for several days, and has already taken a MRI which showed no further damage.
“Today I just woke up and you know how some days you really don’t feel right,” he said after the game. “I came out here and I tried to warm up and I thought it was going to loosen up before the game, but some of the things that I was doing, I felt like I was dragging it.”
Woodson should be extremely happy Anthony didn’t further damage his knee. As the second leading scorer in the NBA, if Anthony was to go down for the count, then the Knicks could hang up their hopes of ever getting out of the first round of the playoffs. Luckily Anthony and his knees seems to be fine with no major injuries. They will just be day-to-day now.