Carmelo Anthony Reveals Extent Of Shoulder Injury

Carmelo Anthony’s shoulder injury is difficult to deal with, but something he will attempt to play through in the coming weeks.

Carmelo Anthony has received his fair share of criticism this season. Some of it has been warranted, other times not as much. Regardless, Anthony is the center of attention for the New York Knicks.

With that, attention comes a certain level of responsibility that needs to be carried. Sometimes it is tough to shoulder that attention, especially when you are injured; that is what Anthony is dealing with currently.

Lets take a quick stroll down memory lane. Against the Los Angeles Lakers on December 11th, Anthony injured his shoulder while diving on the court. He would miss the Knicks following game against the Golden State Warriors with a shoulder injury. Since that injury, Anthony has been wearing a compression shirt underneath his jersey.

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It has been something that has gone relatively unnoticed, as players change their gear for games routinely. But, this time it is something different. Anthony is dealing with a shoulder injury, and opened up about it with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News prior to the Knicks game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

Anthony said that the injury is easily aggravated while playing. A bruise that originally happened against the Lakers has become a bigger problem, something that requires constant attention and treatment to get him ready for games.

"“It’s bad. You know what it is, it’s an adjustment that you have to make on the fly. Like some days it feels good, some days it’s tight. Throughout the course of the game, certain shots, certain moves, you feel like the strength isn’t there. So it’s just a matter of figuring out how to play through it. What’s working? What’s not?“It feels good during the game. And then you irritate it. And then you kind of have to work backwards again to get it back stronger. But I’m constant around-the-clock treatment.”"

The Knicks are entering a very important stretch of their schedule. They need to get things back on track as they have fallen under the .500 mark and out of the Eastern Conference playoffs. They have dealt with injuries all season, most recently to Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis returned from a three-game absence this past weekend and looks recovered. Unfortunately for Anthony, he needs time and rest to recover from his injury and that is just not something he and the Knicks have currently.

"“The only thing that’s going to help (the shoulder) is rest,” Anthony said. “But we’re playing every other day. It’s a tough month.”"

Anthony is right when discussing the difficulties of the schedule in January. Including tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Knicks play 13 games the remainder of January. One way to get rest is by sitting out games. Anthony has missed only one game this season, but that is not a route he is thinking about or ready to take.

"“Not yet. Not yet,” Anthony told the News. “Especially now when we’re in the grind and in the thick of things and we kind of have a chance to get back above .500. And we have some teams that we feel that are some winnable games. So that decision is. … they’re going to have to tell me to take a couple off. Cause I’m not doing it.”"

If Anthony is not going to sit out games he will have to adjust his playing style to compensate for the injury. His shooting numbers have plummetted since the injury occurred. He is shooting 42 percent overall this season, below his career number of 45.2 percent, but near the 41.8 percent since sitting out against the Warriors.

While the shooting percentage since the injury isn’t far off from his season numbers, his performances have been sporadic. He has six games 40 percent or worse, but two over 50 percent, which game in the first two games right after sitting out.

That may give the Knicks some incentive to rest Anthony, even if it is what he doesn’t want. He clearly benefits from the extra rest, as both of those games came with at least two days rest. He was on his way to another strong game on at least two days rest against the Atlanta Hawks before being ejected for hitting Thabo Sefolosha in the face.

Sitting out has not been a recipe for wins for the Knicks, which is probably a big reason why Anthony wants to stay on the court. The Knicks are 0-11 in games Anthony sits out since last season and 7-46 over the last three seasons according to Bondy.

Those are not encouraging numbers, so you can be sure Anthony will be out on the court as much as he is willing in the coming weeks. One encouraging sign for Anthony is his assist numbers recently. He had one of the best three-game stretches of handing out assists in his career in the last three games, handing out 22.

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While the Knicks went 1-2 in those games, it is something we could see more of in the future. If the shoulder is hampering his ability to shoot the ball, he has to find other ways to contribute on the court. Becoming a facilitator and getting his teammates involved could be one of those ways.

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