Carmelo Anthony Injury Update: Why Knicks mishandled the injury situation

It’s getting to become an all too familiar story- another New York Knicks loss and another Carmelo Anthony knee problem.

Anthony’s return to Denver didn’t go exactly as he planned, scoring only nine points on a miserable 3-of-12 shooting performance. But his night was cut short, to the delight of the Pepsi Center crowd who chanted “Where is ‘Melo” after Anthony left the game early in the third quarter with a sore knee and did not return.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News was quick to report that Anthony is heading back to New York for tests, which includes having his knee drained on Thursday, which isn’t a good sign for ‘Melo, at least for the final three games of their current west coast road trip.

Mar 11, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) returns to the bench for the timeout against the Golden State Warriors during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

However, the way Anthony’s mysterious knee injury has been handled by all parties involved has been very poor.

First of all, any injury too ‘Melo’s knee could have serious impact on the Knicks playoff chances and things could have been handled much better.

There’s the fact that on March 6 Knicks head coach Mike Woodson said that Anthony had a fluid buildup in the back of his right knee.

So if that’s the case, why not get it drained then? Why wait eight more days and allow Anthony to play on a hurt knee?

He left the Denver game early and only played 22 minutes, but why on earth would Woodson have him on the floor in the fourth quarter with a sore knee Monday against the Golden State Warriors. The Knicks lost that game by 29 and Anthony played 32 minutes, including some late in the game when he should have been resting.

I know ‘Melo wants to be out there, but here is the thing. He either has to gut it out and play through the pain or get the knee taken care of. He can’t keep going out there and delivering poor performances then use the knee as a crutch when things don’t go so well.

It’s hard to play basketball with a hurt knee. You can’t blame Anthony for trying, but someone needed to step in and take the decision out of Anthony’s hands.

Blame the Knicks medical staff here as well.

He sat out three games and I’m sure the thought process was that the knee would heal, but if he was still complaining about it all week, which he was publically, someone needed to step in and have something done. It makes little sense to run your franchise player out there when he is obviously not capable.

Then there is Woodson again.

Before the Denver game, Anthony said that he likely wouldn’t be able to play Thursday against Portland because he knew his knee would be too sore.

If that’s the case, then why was he on the court Wednesday night?

I know that Anthony wanted to play in Denver- his first trip since the trade- but if he wasn’t able to gut it out, he shouldn’t have been out there for a game in mid-March.

Ultimately the rest of the Knicks team are the ones that have to pay for the way this situation was handled since Anthony asked out of the  game last Monday (Woodson didn’t take him out) in Cleveland.

Depending on how this knee situation plays out, the Knicks could surrender very valuable games in the standings.

For that, everyone is to blame. From the medical staff, to Woodson and even Anthony himself.

They’ve turned a simple knee draining into a comedy.

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