Ailing Melo finds another way to assist
Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks reacts after making a basket during the second half against the Washington Wizards. (Jan. 6, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
A night after scoring 37 points and hitting the game-winning shot, Carmelo Anthony tied his season low with 13 points Saturday night.
Still, Anthony's efforts -- including a season-high seven assists -- in the Knicks' 103-80 win over the Pistons may have been more important to his team than the three-pointer he hit with 15.9 seconds left in Washington on Friday night.
Anthony, you see, played a team-high 31:05 Saturday despite an injury that -- no joke -- he said affected his lower back, groin, hip and knee at different times from Friday to Saturday.
"It's just all over," Anthony said. "My whole right side was kind of locked up. [Friday] night when we got in, they unlocked my back. Then [Saturday], it was my hip. Then in the game, it was my knee, so it was kind of my whole right side. I can use this day off."
Without his usual explosiveness, Anthony transitioned from scorer to facilitator. And without a proven starting point guard on the active roster, Anthony might be called upon more and more to handle the ball, at least until (and if) Baron Davis gets healthy.
"I think he battled through some stuff," coach Mike D'Antoni said after the Knicks evened their record at 4-4. "I don't think he was himself, but he was good. You expect 40 points from him every night, and that doesn't happen every night. He battled through a lot of pain. You've just got to give it to him for playing and getting us a win."
Anthony's injury, which the Knicks officially called a lower- back strain, occurred in the final minutes of Friday's three-point win in Washington -- before Anthony hit the go-ahead three-pointer to prevent a loss to the winless Wizards.
Anthony received postgame treatment, then some more after the Knicks flew from Washington to Detroit. He took a muscle relaxer at 2:30 in the morning. He took to the court Saturday thinking he was OK but quickly realized he wasn't.
"I thought I felt good when I woke up," he said. "I got in the game, it kind of tightened up on me a little bit. But I stuck with it.
"It was tough. I got through it, though. I suited up. I played. It was kind of tough for me to move out there, so I tried to alter my game a little bit, get guys going. Even though I couldn't move, they still were trying to trap me in the pick- and-rolls, and that left a lot of guys open. I tried to make the game easier for myself and not make it too strenuous on the situation."
Did he think about not playing?
"No, not at all," he said. "My leg wasn't cut off."
That doesn't mean Anthony didn't appreciate Sunday's day off. After three games in four days, the Knicks rested before they host Charlotte Monday night at the Garden. The Bobcats beat the Knicks on Wednesday night, 118-110.
Anthony said he expects to play.
"We owe them," he said. "They came in our place and snuck one out. Well, we gave them one, so we want to redeem ourselves. We still want to build on this momentum that we've been gaining on the defensive end."
