New York Knicks lose Carmelo Anthony and Amare’ Stoudemire for at least a week – NBA Update
To say that the New York Knicks have failed to live up to the hype created when Tyson Chandler was roped in the team before the start of the season will be an understatement.
The Madison Square Garden franchise has been marred by poor defensive displays, lack of chemistry between the superstars within the team – Carmelo Anthony and Amare’ Stoudemire – and a few significant choking acts against big teams
this season.
To make the matters worse, the Knicks will now be without their star duo for the next two weeks. On Tuesday, the team announced that Anthony will be out for 1-2 weeks after he strained his right groin in Monday night’s game against
the Utah Jazz.
Carmelo played for a little over six minutes before he limped out of the game. Stoudemire, on the other hand, is mourning the loss of his elder brother, Hazell, who was killed in a car crash Monday morning. He was not present in
the game against the Jazz and is expected to be out indefinitely.
"I am humbled by all of the thoughts and prayers I have received," Stoudemire said in a statement released by the team Tuesday. "Thank you for all of the support. I am going to take a few days to be with my family and grieve the
loss of my big brother, Hazell Stoudemire. Although it is not clear to me now, I hope to make some good come from our tragedy."
If Carmelo takes two weeks to recover fully, the Knicks who are 0-3 without him so far this season, will have to play six short-handed games. Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak carried the slack in the Jazz game, but expecting them to
deliver consistently will be naive and the absence of Anthony and Stoudemire could put a big dent to the playoff campaign.
This layoff, on the brighter side, could give the duo some much needed respite.
Anthony has been plagued by a spate of injuries – left wrist, right ankle and right thumb to be precise – and that has taken a toll on his shooting. The groin injury might just give him enough time to recuperate fully for once.
As for Stoudemire, the power forward has looked under conditioned so far, and the break albeit unfortunate, could spur him on.