NBA NEW YORK—Point guard Jeremy Lin may have started the charge to rescue the Knicks’ season by leading the team on a seven-game winning streak, which ended with Friday’s loss to New Orleans. But now the cavalry is coming to support him.
Before Sunday’s game against the Mavericks, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said the Knicks are expecting to get small forward Carmelo Anthony back for Monday’s game against the Nets and that guards Baron Davis and J.R. Smith could make appearances as soon as today
Anthony, the Knicks’ leading scorer, has been out nearly two weeks with a groin injury. D’Antoni said he could probably play today but that he would be held out for one more game.
Asked whether Anthony will play on Monday or just might play on Monday, D’Antoni said, “Probably more to the will. I don’t want to be 100 percent, nobody knows. He’s out working hard right now, but knowing Melo and knowing where he is, he’ll play tomorrow.”
Smith was signed by the Knicks on Friday after he spent the last three-plus months playing for Zhejiang in China. He doesn’t have a familiarity with the Knicks’ system, but with Anthony and his backup, Bill Walker, injured, D’Antoni needed some wing help—guard Iman Shumpert started at small forward. Smith is a career 37.1 percent 3-point shooter and should help with the Knicks’ perimeter woes. New York entered the Dallas game ranked 29th in the NBA in 3-point shooting, at 29.9 percent.
“He does have a lot of talent and he can make plays and he can shoot the basketball,” D’Antoni said. “Shooting is especially something that we really need. That hurt us the other night and that has hurt us this year. There’s a ray of possibility there for sure.”
Davis has not played since last April and has been suffering from back spasms. He has not had a chance to practice five-on-five with the team, and D’Antoni said he was more likely to play Davis if the game turned into a blowout.
“It’s just a matter of not knowing because we haven’t practiced 5-on-5, and I don’t want to throw him into a situation where it’s tough,”
D’Antoni said. “We want to make sure—it’s not like he has to play today, it’s not the seventh game (of a playoff series) or something. We want to make sure he’s OK, and we want to make sure the team’s OK. There will be a time, probably soon, to throw him in and get up to speed. But today will be tough.”
D’Antoni is hoping that the team can put together some good practices around All-Star weekend, and also wants to start to piece together his rotation going forward. With Lin at point guard, Anthony back at his starting spot, plus Smith and Davis bringing back court help off the bench, D’Antoni can see a remade rotation that offers something he has not had in his four years coaching the Knicks—depth.
“It makes it interesting, that’s for sure,” D’Antoni said. “The thing is, with this shortened season—everybody says it, not just me—we’re trying to get our team right. We’re trying to make the playoffs. That’s our No. 1 goal. Once we do that, if we have everybody right, we get into a situation where they’re comfortable, we’re going to be good. You hate to do it, but at the same time, look who we’re bringing in. We’re bringing in four guys who could be in our top eight or nine guys. That’s hard to do at this stage. But it’s possible.”
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