Lance Thomas relieved that knee injury isn’t a major one
Lance Thomas of the New York Knicks walks off the court after being defeated by the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden on April 15, 2015. Credit: Mike Stobe
PHOENIX — Lance Thomas tried to downplay how relieved he was after hearing he didn’t suffer any structural damage in his left knee when he injured it during pre-game warmups in Denver on Tuesday.
“I trust our doctors,” Thomas said. “If they didn’t have any startled look on their face, there wasn’t going to be one on mine.”
But Thomas, who missed his second straight game with what the team called a sore left knee, did call it “great news” that he didn’t suffer a major injury. The valuable reserve is day-to-day but he wouldn’t predict whether he would return later on this six-game trip.
“I’m not sure to be honest with you,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to give false hope and give an answer I’m not sure about. It’s a day-to-day thing at the moment. We’ll see what happens.”
Thomas admitted he was concerned when it happened. He said “something didn’t feel right.” He couldn’t put any pressure on it and had to be helped to the locker room.
“Hopefully I’ll be back soon,” Thomas said.
Afflalo ailing
Starting shooting guard Arron Afflalo suffered a strained right abdominal in the second quarter of Tuesday’s loss at Denver and was unavailable Wednesday night.
Interim coach Kurt Rambis started veteran guard Sasha Vujacic because he wanted “somebody to play harassing defense, knows our offense, can execute it and also keep our guys coming off the bench together.”
Afflalo said when he woke up “it was painful.” He hopes to return Friday against the Clippers.
Let’s talk
With team president Phil Jackson making a rare road trip, Carmelo Anthony said he hopes to have a chance to sit down and talk to him about the state of the team and the future. Anthony said the two biggest names in the organization haven’t had that talk yet.
“When the time comes to talk to Phil and he wants to talk to me, the line of communication is always open between us,” Anthony said. “He knows he can sit down and talk to me any given time and I know his door is open any time I want to sit down and talk. Whenever that times comes for us to sit down and talk and figure things out I’m pretty sure we will.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
