Back-to-back-to-back a challenge
Head coach Mike D'Antoni of the New York Knicks looks on against the Milwaukee Bucks. (Jan. 20, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
Mike Bibby is the only Knicks player to have experienced three games in three nights in his NBA career. He was a rookie in Vancouver during the 1999 lockout-shortened season and played all 50 games that season.
Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni already has said that Bibby, 33, won't play in all three games of the back-to-back-to-back that tipped off Thursday night against the Bulls. But all of the other "healthy" Knicks were expected to be available.
Carmelo Anthony returned Tuesday from a two-game absence to rest his sprained ankle, wrist and thumb. Amar'e Stoudemire sprained his right ankle Tuesday. After most games, Tyson Chandler soaks both feet in a huge bucket of ice, Toney Douglas' surgically repaired right shoulder is wrapped and rookie Iman Shumpert is taped and gets treatment for a variety of ailments.
There is no good time for a team to play three games in three nights, and the Knicks entered the Bulls game a little beat up. But Chandler thinks this stretch could be a defining moment in the Knicks' season.
"It's all mental," he said. "We're definitely banged up. We're definitely wounded. This is a time when you [can] lift your spirits and you go out there and get a win like this and it turns everything around, and all of a sudden everybody is confident, everybody's believing in what we've been preaching the whole time.''
After facing the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls, the Knicks travel to Boston to play the Celtics Friday night and return home to face the Nets at the Garden Saturdaynight.
It's part of a stretch in which the Knicks will play eight games in 12 nights, which is something all teams have to go through because of the circumstances of this season.
The last time some Knicks played three games in three nights was when they played AAU basketball or during their college tournaments. But the competition is much different and the wear and tear on players' bodies is greater at this level.
Chandler played three consecutive games with Team USA in the 2010 FIBA World Championships and said it was a struggle.
"That was difficult," he said. "With the talent that we had, that [third] game came down to the wire against Brazil. And we barely won.
"It's difficult as an athlete. Two games back-to-back is tough. To go three games, it's a great mental challenge.''
The Bulls were minus Luol Deng (left wrist) and Richard Hamilton (right thigh). But when the Knicks play Boston Friday night, Rajon Rondo could return after missing seven games with a sprained right wrist.
Being banged up is common this season because there was no training camp and there are few days off between games. The Knicks hope to get out of this stretch with some wins and as few physical issues as possible.
"It's tough on everybody," D'Antoni said. "You just have to do the best you can do and hope to not have any uneven performances, but you do; try to avoid injuries, but they will happen. It's tough for everybody, but you have to play the best you can play it."
