This isn’t a surprise, especially after he spent 40 minutes in the trainer’s room after Tuesday night’s game because of his sore knee. He hinted he might miss some time.
Carmelo Anthony is out vs. the Spurs in San Antonio Wednesday night, the team announced.
Expect this to mean more minutes for J.R. Smith — although he was seen limping in the arena Wednesday — and Tim Hardaway Jr., among others.
The Spurs are expected to be without Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, and Manu Ginobili for this game (Duncan and Ginobili are resting, the others have injuries). So the fans are really going to get their money’s worth tonight in San Antonio.
For the Knicks the bigger question is how much more time will Anthony miss. His knee issue is serious enough that it likely will require surgery at some point, the question is when does he take that step.
Anthony is averaging 22.9 points a game with a true shooting percentage of .540 (above the league average) and is the fulcrum of the Knicks triangle offense. He’s put up numbers but he hasn’t moved the ball as well as coaches would like, nor is he consistently committed on the defensive end.
Still they are going to miss him — when Anthony is on the court their offense is 14.3 points per 100 possession better. That’s hard to replace.