Quentin Grimes' injury not as bad as it looked
Knicks guard Quentin Grimes reacts after his three-point basket against the Kings in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 31. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
DALLAS — The promising rookie season of Quentin Grimes appeared to come to an end when he collided with Miami’s PJ Tucker at Madison Square Garden on February 25. But Grimes survived the scare and could be back soon.
Grimes went to the floor along the baseline and he suffered a subluxation of his right patella — or as he saw it, his kneecap slipping to the side of his leg. With his mother and his brother, NHL player Tyler Myers, in the stands he lay on the court for a long time and then helped to the locker room by teammates.
"Yeah, I felt it. It was on the side of my knee," he said. "Then it came back in when I rolled over. So luckily it wasn’t too bad . . . It was my first injury that I’ve been sidelined for more than a week. So it was crazy when it happened but it wasn’t as bad as everybody thought it was."
Asked if he watched the replay he shook his head and said, "I don’t like watching that stuff. They told me what it looked like and I didn’t want to see it. So I just let it be . . . I knew once I was able to walk to the locker room, I knew it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. But once I got the MRI and everything I knew it was fine."
As the Knicks finished shootaround at SMU Wednesday morning Grimes took the court to work, able to shoot and run, but not yet doing contact drills.
"I’m on the court but still got to do contact stuff and see how that goes," Grimes said. "But hopefully I’ll be able to come back pretty soon. I’m working out. No contact. I’ll be re-evaluated once I get back from Memphis. So whenever the doctors say, I’ll be ready to go."
"He’s getting closer. He’s coming along nicely," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He’s a phenomenal worker, and you got to give him a lot of credit. He’s a fierce competitor . . . Each step, there hasn’t been any issues, and like I said, he’s one of those guys that he’s going to do all he can to get back as quick as he can. It’s just his makeup. You don’t put that in someone. That's in him. So, he’s fierce."
Cam Reddish was ruled out with what the team called a sprained right shoulder and he was sent back to New York to be further examined by team doctors. He fell hard Monday in Sacramento, tumbling over Kings’ guard Davion Mitchell as he attempted to block a shot.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
