New York Knicks Blog – Page 78 – NBA Blog

Unclear when Rasheed Wallace will return for Knicks

As the uncertainty surrounding Rasheed Wallace’s left foot injury lingers, members of the New York Knicks organization fear Wallace will be out for an extended period of time, possibly for the entire season, two league sources told ESPNNewYork.com.

Wallace has been out since Dec. 15 with a stress reaction in his left foot.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said last week that he hoped Wallace would begin running this week, but he told reporters in London on Wednesday that Wallace, 38, has yet to do so.

“He’ll be back — but when, I don’t know. We’re gradually trying to get him back where he can run again so he can get back in a uniform. But when, we don’t know when yet,” Woodson said.

— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

Knicks reportedly recorded in-game conversations between Bulls and Melo

In the wake of an incident between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett that resulted in Anthony’s suspension, the Knicks recorded all in-game conversations between the forward and players around him Friday against the Bulls, a league source has confirmed.

Owner James Dolan ordered Madison Square Garden technicians to place two microphones on opposite ends of the court, a move league sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard was put in place in order to protect Anthony.

The Knicks were trying to ascertain whether other players were going overboard in their trash talking against Anthony, sources told Broussard.

It is not clear whether the recordings will continue, but sources tell Broussard that any move to paint them as Dolan “spying” on Anthony is “flat-out wrong.”

— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

Big Melo second quarter helps Knicks beat Hornets

Carmelo Anthony was hungry, and not just to end the Knicks’ losing streak.

He wanted something to eat.

Anthony, struggling to keep his energy up while fasting for two weeks, snapped out of a slow start by scoring 18 of his 27 points in the second quarter, and New York ended its season-high, three-game skid with a 100-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday.

Anthony missed seven of eight shots and scored two points in the first quarter of the noon start he dislikes, then outscored the Hornets by himself in the second period as the Knicks took the lead for good.

”I’m kind of going through something right now with my own self, trying to find some energy and things like that. But we’ll be fine,” Anthony said. ”We bounced back pretty well, I bounced back pretty well, stuck with it and won the game.”

Anthony has scored 20 or more in a career-best 24 straight games, but it’s been a struggle for him lately.

The All-Star forward said he hadn’t had any meats or carbs in 15 days, and that his body just felt ”depleted out there.” Perhaps that explains his 6-for-26 shooting night in a loss to Boston on Monday, or the consecutive 1-for-8 first quarters in the last two games…

Chris Copeland added 22 points for the Knicks, who had seen their Atlantic Division lead trimmed to two games by Brooklyn while losing five of their previous seven games. Battling injuries, they play only once in the next week, facing the Detroit Pistons on Thursday in London…

Eric Gordon scored 22 points as the Hornets had their four-game winning streak snapped. Coach Monty Williams said the Hornets didn’t bring the competitive edge they’d had lately.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Iman Shumpert returning soon for Knicks

New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert could make his season debut on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons in London.

“He’s been cleared,” coach Mike Woodson said after Saturday’s practice at the team’s training facility. “He’ll practice on Monday and if we get the two practices in — for sure one in London and there’s no setback — he’ll be cleared probably to play in the Detroit game.”

Shumpert is returning from a left ACL and meniscus tear suffered last April in the playoffs. Initially, the Knicks were looking to have the sophomore practice with the Knicks’ D-League team, the Erie BayHawks, but Woodson said the schedule won’t permit that. Instead, Shumpert will practice with the Knicks and “have to learn on the fly,” as the coach said.

— Reported by Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York

Gossip page says Carmelo Anthony and La La have been living separately

Carmelo and La La Anthony have been living separately, sources say, but friends close to the Knick’s wife say she’ll stand by her man and won’t split from the NBA star.

“It is true they haven’t seen much of each other in the past few months,” says a friend of the couple. “She’s been away a lot filming her show, ‘La La’s Full Court Life,’ in London, New York and LA. They are not separated and are still together. She and Melo have a house in LA — so she’s always there when she’s doing auditions.”

But others say they’ve been going through a more rocky period. “They have been living separately for several months now,” says a source. “She’s been living in LA while Carmelo has been in New York.” The source added, “La La used to go out to the games and wanted to be seen . . . now she’s always off doing her own thing.”

— Reported by Page Six of the NY Post

Are Knicks interested in Kenyon Martin?

Woodson denied that the Knicks are pursing free agent forward Kenyon Martin, saying “that’s new news to me. That’s (media) speculation.”

Yahoo! Sports reported that the Knicks are considering signing Martin to a 10-day contract. In order to add Martin, the Knicks would have to release a player because their roster is already at the maximum of 15.

The possibility of signing Martin is not that far-fetched considering he was teammates with Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby in Denver and enjoyed his greatest success playing alongside Jason Kidd with the Nets.

— Reported by Frank Isola of the New York Daily News

Paul George leads Pacers past short-handed Knicks

First the Heat, now the Knicks.

The Indiana Pacers are proving they can beat up on everyone in the Eastern Conference these days.

Paul George scored seven of his 25 points during a decisive 13-0 fourth-quarter run, leading the Pacers past New York 81-76 on a night the Knicks were without their top scorer, Carmelo Anthony. Indiana has won 12 of 15 and swept the two other Eastern Conference division leaders this week.

”We want to compete for the one and two (seeds) and for sure want to compete for the No. 1 spot,” George said. ”We probably could be pushing one or two if we would have started off playing the way we’re playing right now.”

Clearly, the Knicks (23-12) weren’t the same without their All-Star forward, who was suspended for the game after Monday’s postgame confrontation with Boston’s Kevin Garnett. They finished with a season-low point total, shot just 34.8 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range.

And the Pacers (22-14) took Anthony’s absence by pulling off a rare double – beating defending champion Miami and Atlantic Division-leading New York – in back-to-back games.

It’s about time. The Pacers came into this season with high expectations, but struggled early as they tried to adjust to life without their top scorer, Danny Granger, who still has not played because of a left knee injury…

George started the game by missing his first five shots, but wound up finishing 10 of 24 from the field. He also had 11 rebounds, six steals, five assists and one block on a night point guard George Hill played with bronchitis and All-Star center Roy Hibbert left twice with a bad back…

Ian Mahinmi finished with 13 points and six rebounds, and Lance Stephenson added nine points and seven rebounds.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Carmelo Anthony suspended one game for confrontation with Kevin Garnett

New York Knicks’ forward Carmelo Anthony has been suspended for one game without pay for confronting Boston’s Kevin Garnett in the arena tunnel, near the players’ locker rooms, and in the parking garage following the Celtics at Knicks game on January 7, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.

“There are no circumstances in which it is acceptable for a player to confront an opponent after a game,” Jackson said. “Carmelo Anthony attempted to engage with Kevin Garnett multiple times after Monday’s game and therefore a suspension was warranted.”

Anthony will serve his suspension on January 10 when the Knicks play the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Melo says situation with Kevin Garnett has been handled

Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday he lost his cool after Kevin Garnett said things to him that he feels shouldn’t be said to ”another man.”

Anthony said he sought out Garnett after the Knicks’ loss to Boston on Monday night so they could discuss it. He would not elaborate on what was said.

Anthony went toward the Celtics’ locker room and waited for Garnett outside the team bus. He said they have spoken and sorted out the matter.

”There’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man,” Anthony said. ”I felt like we crossed a line, but like I said, we both had an understanding right now, we handled it the way we handled it. Nobody needs to know what was said behind closed doors, so that situation was handled.”

The All-Star forwards exchanged words during the game and Anthony clearly was affected. He shot 6 of 26, seeming at times in the second half to be most concerned with pushing and shoving Garnett, and acknowledged Tuesday that he ”allowed some negativity to come into my circle.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

NYC Mayor Bloomberg says he pushed Stephen Jackson

Just call him the Knicks’ sixth man.

Mayor Bloomberg put a full-court press on Spurs forward Stephen Jackson before the player left a Knicks game Thursday with a sprained ankle.

The Knicks ended up winning easily, 100-83.

Fans reported Jackson tripped on a waitress, who was crouched on the sidelines with her back to the Madison Square Garden court while serving a drink to the mayor.

“He didn’t fall on her,” Bloomberg revealed yesterday during a press conference in The Bronx dealing with schools. “He came close and I just pushed him a little bit.”

The mayor acknowledged it would be “great for New York” if the Knicks and the Nets made it into the playoffs, but he insisted that fouling Jackson was an instinctive, defensive move and not part of a secret strategy.

— Reported by David Seifman of the New York Post