The struggling New York Knicks will be facing off with LeBron James and the Miami Heat Friday night in South Beach and Carmelo Anthony won’t be on the court to try to stop the bleeding.
The Knicks (7-11) have struggled out of the gate as has Anthony and his co-star Amare Stoudemire.
Anthony has been hampered by a variety of injuries and the team decided to rest the small forward for the next two days. Anthony is suffering from injuries to his left wrist, right thumb and right ankle.
The injuries have finally forced the Knicks small forward to the bench.
“At the end of the day I’ve just got to be smart,” Anthony said, according to the Associated Press. “I was trying to be a superhero. It was hurting the team. It wasn’t doing anything for me, my psyche, my body. It was making it worse. I was trying to hide it when talking to coach and my teammates.”
Anthony is hoping to rest his body and come back rejuvenated early next week. He told reporters on Friday that playing through the pain “wasn’t really doing nothing but hurting the team.”
It’s likely that all the injuries have contributed to his shooting woes. Anthony has only made 40 out of his last 126 shots. That’s 31 percent from the field.
“He can’t make a shot and he’s playing through a lot of pain and it’s not going away and it just kept getting worse,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’ve got to have him 100 percent or we don’t have a chance. If not, it’s crazy to keep going.”
