Carmelo Anthony Injures Back; Doubtful For Wednesday At Dallas

Carmelo Anthony tweaked his back in the first half of the New York Knicks’ loss to the Houston Rockets on Monday and didn’t return to the game. Though he travelled with his team to Dallas for Wednesday’s contest with the Mavericks, the Knicks officially list Anthony as doubtful to play.

https://twitter.com/NY_KnicksPR/status/537307564732473344

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that Anthony is unlikely to appear in Friday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, too:

Multiple outlets reported that Carmelo felt severe pain on Monday night. While it’s obviously a good sign that he travelled with the team today, back injuries are never to be taken lightly. Just ask Steve Nash or Tracy McGrady how debilitating a seemingly minor back malady could be over the long haul.

But that’s thinking too far ahead for now. Anthony was on a tear going into Monday night, averaging 28.7 points on unbelievable shooting marks of 60.6 percent overall and 58.3 percent from beyond the arc in New York’s last six contests. The problem, of course, is that the Knicks won just two of them – matchups against the woebegone Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. Big picture, though, his dominance was certainly encouraging, and lends credence to future viability of the triangle offense in New York.

Presently, that’s on hold. Getting healthy will be ‘Melo utmost priority, and the Knicks would be wise to exercise extreme caution with his minor injury. It’s not a big deal as of yet, and there’s no point in rushing him back too soon at the risk of it becoming such.

What do you think?

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