Early in the Knicks loss Wednesday night Carmelo Anthony stepped in front of a driving DeMar DeRozan and tried to take the charge.
What he got instead was an elbow to the bicep of his right arm. His shooting arm. He said after the game it was a deep bruise that left him with numbness and that he battled the dead arm all game. Anthony shot 5-for-24 on his way to just a dozen points in the Knicks loss.
And if his arm continues to bother him through the weekend he said he would sit out he All-Star Game Sunday. From the AP.
The NBA frowns on healthy players sitting out the All-Star Game — if he doesn’t play Sunday the league likely would keep him out of the Knicks next game the following Wednesday at Indiana. New York doesn’t want that, so smart money says ‘Melo at least plays some token minutes Sunday. It is possible the league could replace him on short notice, but again this is going to have to be pretty bad for everyone to go down that road.
Anthony was voted in an All-Star starter by the fans. Anthony is having his best season as a pro, averaging 28.6 points per game (second best in the NBA) and 6.5 rebounds a contest with a career best PER of 23.8. He has led the Knicks to the second best record in the East heading into All-Star weekend.