NEW ORLEANS — Eddy Curry is ready to play, but Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t think he is. Surprise, Curry and D’Antoni are on different pages.
Though starting center Ronny Turiaf’s left knee is a chronic concern and rookie center Timofey Mozgov continued to regress last night, D’Antoni refuses to budge in suiting up the embattled center, who has warred with the Knicks coach for two-plus seasons.
With Turiaf missing his third straight game in their 100-92 victory over the Hornets last night at New Orleans Arena, D’Antoni said spotting in Curry, who has yet to suit up all season, is too big “a risk.” He doesn’t want to take the chance of the team floundering — even for a few minutes.
Curry, meanwhile, is getting “antsy” and said he’s ready to rock.
“Yeah, I am. At the same we’re winning, and I’m not trying to disrupt that or disrupt anything around here,” Curry said. “It’s been a while since I played, but I haven’t been sitting around. I’ve been practicing, doing extra work to make sure I can get up and down. At the end of the day, it’s just basketball, what I’ve been doing my whole life. I don’t want to get into deserve or not deserve. I’m ready whenever he needs me.”
Meanwhile, Russian 7-foot-1 rookie center Timofey Mozgov was pitiful last night, going 0-for-3 and having two of his shots blocked at the rim by D.J. Mbenga. Mozgov also blew a layup, instead of dunking the ball. Mozgov capped his lousy stint by failing to get a defensive rebound.
D’Antoni is wary of using Curry because last season, during another comeback, Curry was spotted in during two games and the team collapsed with him on the floor. But it’s surprising D’Antoni won’t at least suit him up for potentially useful garbage-time minutes.
D’Antoni said he didn’t think Curry could “get up and down the floor” efficiently.
“To be honest, I’m playing it close to the vest,” he said. “I’m not going to give up a couple of games just to [spot Curry] when I don’t know. If it’s Raymond [Felton] or Amar’e [Stoudemire] you do it. You just don’t know [with Curry]. It’s a tough situation for us right now.”
Curry’s hamstring injury on the second day of training camp put him behind the eight ball, but he has been scrimmaging for a few weeks.
“I feel I have [shown something in scrimmages],” Curry said. “It’s not what I feel. It’s what he feels.”
“Do you risk it?” D’Antoni said. “We’re playing pretty tight. We want to only do things when we’re sure. We got to get our record straight and can’t experiment right now.”
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D’Antoni said Turiaf’s injury could be a season-long issue, and Turiaf missed 40-plus games last season with the same injury.
“We have to solve the problem of him not being that important,” D’Antoni said. “We’d love to get to a point where he’s important, but he’s not a do-or-die situation. That he can add something, but if not, we’re still OK.”