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Iman Shumpert dealing with sore knee

The New York Knicks might be without Iman Shumpert for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal with the Pacers.

The guard has a sore left knee. He did not participate in Tuesday morning’s shootaround after missing practice Sunday and Monday.

Coach Mike Woodson says a team doctor is flying to Indianapolis before the game to examine Shumpert. He was hurt during an awkward, twisting landing in Game 3. This is same knee that was operated on last May for a torn ligament.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Carmelo Anthony plans to have a chat with Tyson Chandler

Carmelo Anthony wants to have a couple of words with Tyson Chandler before the Knicks try to even their series against Indiana Tuesday night.

Anthony didn’t sound too happy about Chandler saying the Knicks are playing selfishly and guys are trying to win games on their own. Chandler never mentioned anyone by name, but it’s widely believed he was referring to Anthony, who seemed eager to get his teammates’ point of view.

“I really don’t want to go back and forth about that, because I really don’t know exactly what he was talking about,” Anthony said after practice Monday. “But if he feels that way, we’re about to get together . . . we’ll discuss that among ourselves and figure that out, just get his take, his perspective on that comment.

“We’ll handle that internally and figure it out amongst ourselves.”

— Reported by Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday

Stoudemire feels no ill effects from return

There was no problematic aftermath for Amar’e Stoudemire.

After experiencing his first action for the Knicks in more than two months Saturday night, Stoudemire felt fine yesterday morning at a light team workout. There was no sure thing concerning how Stoudemire’s surgically-repaired right knee would respond.

He played nine minutes in the Knicks’ 82-71 loss to the Pacers in Game 3, having been shelved for the final 23 regular season games and the first eight playoff games following right knee debridement. Stoudemire’s last game prior to Saturday was on March 7 — before the Big East Tournament started.

“I feel good,” he said yesterday. “The minutes I played were only nine minutes, but the process before that — I was in shootaround, we’re going hard in shootaround and then the pregame of training — [was] equivalent to about an hour’s worth of work. Hard intensity work. I feel good today.”

— Reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post

Knicks try to recover from illness, offensive woes

A sick feeling is emanating through the New York Knicks.

The offense is struggling, their playoff hopes teetering and key players are missing practice.

That’s not how coach Mike Woodson intended to spend Sunday afternoon following an abysmal Game 3 performance that left the Knicks in a 2-1 hole and in a precarious position heading into Tuesday night’s game at Indiana. Two of his top players — guard J.R. Smith and forward Kenyon Martin — didn’t even make it to the workout because they were ill.

”We’ve got to be careful that this thing doesn’t spread and other guys start dropping so we kept them back at the hotel,” Woodson said.

There’s no telling if either player will return in time to make an impact in Game 4, which has become essential for the Knicks to keep their playoff drive alive.

Something is clearly wrong with the sickly shooting Knicks.

On Saturday, New York made just 35.2 percent from the field and its vaunted 3-point shooting vanished as they went 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. The result was a stinging 82-71 loss in which the Knicks flirted with a franchise record scoring low. The record is 67. New York didn’t top that until Martin’s dunk with 1:39 left in a game that had already been decided.

Nobody played well.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin sit out Sunday practice

J.R. Smith, who played 25 minutes in Game 3 on Saturday night despite a high fever, sat out of the Knicks’ morning practice on Sunday.

Kenyon Martin also missed practice. “Kenyon’s kind of coming down with [illness], too,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said, “so we’ve got to be careful that this thing doesn’t spread, and other guys start dropping.”

Smith scored only nine points on 4-for-12 shooting during the Knicks’ 82-71 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. He has shot dreadfully, making just 11 of 52 shots (21.2 percent) in three games this series, and he wasn’t much better in the final two games of New York’s first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics (8-for-27, 29.6 percent).

— Reported by Jared Wade of ESPN New York

Pacers beat Knicks 82-71 in Game 3

Roy Hibbert had 24 points and 12 rebounds and Paul George had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assist to lead the Pacers past New York 82-71 Saturday night in Game of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Pacers are up 2-1, with Game 4 of the best-of-seven series Tuesday in Indy.

Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points to lead the Knicks, who led only once in the game for a total of 76 seconds. New York spent the final 45 minutes trying to play catch-up but never did.

Amare Stoudemire looked rusty after returning from a two-month absence, going 3 of 8 from the field and finishing with seven points. J.R. Smith scored nine points after missing the morning shootaround because of a 102-degree fever.

Indiana took control with a 14-3 run that gave it a 58-44 third-quarter lead, and the Knicks never got closer than eight.

The big questions heading into the game were whether Smith would play, whether Stoudemire would be effective and whether Indiana could get back to its brand of basketball.

Smith gave it a go, but his shooting problems continued as he went 4 of 12 from the field and walked straight to the locker room when he was replaced with 7:45 left in the game. He returned to the game a few minutes later.

Stoudemire, meanwhile, hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in eight minutes and grabbed two rebounds.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

J.R. Smith misses shootaround due to a fever

J.R. Smith missed the Knicks morning shootaround because of a fever and may not play Saturday night at Indiana.

Coach Mike Woodson says the guard stayed at the team hotel with a fever of about 102 degrees. With the series tied 1-1, Woodson says he’ll rely on the team doctors to decide Smith’s availability.

Smith averaged 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds during the regular season and won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Teammates tell J.R. Smith to keep shooting

J.R. Smith’s teammates have a simple message for the slumping sixth man: Just keep shooting.

Smith has struggled mightily from the floor in the past four games, hitting just 26 percent of his attempts.

Coach Mike Woodson and others have expressed confidence that Smith can turn things around. “You can’t give up hope,” Woodson said Friday. “J.R.’s a big piece to what we’ve done this season. I’ve just got to help him as a coach. His teammates have got to help him. And he’s got to help himself to snap out of it. I got confidence that he will do that.”

Smith is a combined 7-for-30 in two games against the Pacers.

— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

If Amare Stoudemire returns for playoffs he will have a minutes limit

Amare Stoudemire will likely be limited to about 10 to 15 minutes per game if he is able to return during New York’s playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.

With Stoudemire nearing a comeback from a two-month absence following right knee surgery, both he and the Knicks are keeping expectations low.

”To be honest with you, I don’t think we or he is expecting to come out and play 20 or 30 minutes and to score 15, 20, 30 points,” forward Carmelo Anthony said Thursday. ”I think he’s just trying to gradually get himself back going. He understands that, we understand that, so if he says he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. I mean, he’s one of our guys. If he can help us, which we know he can, he can do that.”

Not for long, though.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Jason Kidd has not scored in quite a while

In his last 137 minutes played, Jason Kidd hasn’t scored. The last time he found the bottom of the net was in Game 2 against the Celtics, when he hit a 3-pointer late in the first quarter.

In Game 1 against the Pacers, Kidd went scoreless for the fifth straight game. In the past, Kidd’s points would mostly come from 3-pointers, but because the Celtics and now Pacers have used their skilled size to guard Carmelo Anthony more straight-up (less double teams), that’s eliminated some of the Knicks’ downtown looks.

But Mike Woodson isn’t concerned about Kidd’s offense.

“Jason [Kidd] is going to be there when it counts,” he said. “We haven’t played him a lot of big minutes. … We’re trying to mix and match the best we can.”

Kidd said he’s not going to change anything.

“I’m going to play the game the right away,” he said. “If a shot presents itself, I’ll take it, and if it doesn’t, I’m going to try to find one of my teammates a shot.”

— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York