Arrivederci, Andrea.
The Knicks took a gamble this offseason they could resuscitate Andrea Bargnani’s career and the gamble came crashing down in spectacular fashion Wednesday night late in the third quarter of their loss to the 76ers.
As if the cursed Knicks didn’t need more horrible injury news, the Knicks announced Bargnani had been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his left elbow and is “out indefinitely,’’ but surgery won’t be required.
According to elbow surgeon Dr. Matt Saltzman, of Northwestern University, standard procedure for basketball players with this type of injury is to rest and do physical therapy with a recovery time of 3-6 weeks. Saltzman added only baseball players, javelin throwers and racket sports players would require surgery to reestablish torque and the timetable is about one year.
Bargnani hurt the elbow crashing to the floor on a failed driving dunk attempt that made all the highlight shows. Bargnani had been an iron horse, hadn’t missed a game all season. Now his future is unclear.
Saltzman, who has not seen Bargnani’s MRI exam, said if the ligament is fully torn, the forward should miss five to six weeks. Either way it’s highly unlikely Bargnani returns before the All-Star break.
Bargnani’s season has been a mixed bag. Though he’s averaging 13.3 points, his 3-point shooting has been a big disappointment (27.8 percent) and he has struggled on defensive rotations.
One of his maddening habits is passing up an open look to shot-fake and drive, and it cost him during his first season in New York.
On Wednesday, Bargnani pump-faked at the top of the key, fell over on a clumsy drive down the lane, colliding with Thaddeus Young and Elliot Williams as he leaped for a dunk, earning the nickname Air Bargnani on one website.
Though it appeared to be an offensive foul, the call went against the Sixers. After staying down for about 45 seconds, Bargnani, already with a black wrap on the elbow, got up rubbing it before going to the line. He stayed in the game, however.
The reeling Knicks had already been in crisis mode, having lost five straight games amid player griping about defensive strategy. They are already missing big men Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin, who both have ankle sprains and won’t be back for another week. Metta World Peace has also been out with an arthritic knee and he may decide to come back Friday against Charlotte as the jinxed eight-game homestand continues.
Bargnani had elbow problems last season with the Raptors, limiting him to 35 games. He suffered two separate injuries, including an “avulsion sprain” of the right elbow last March that was projected to sideline him 3-4 weeks. However, the Raptors shut him down for the remainder of the season.
By the time the Knicks made Thursday’s announcement, Woodson had spoken to reporters at practice and on his weekly radio spot, where he raised the injuries as an excuse for the team’s 15-27 record. The biggest injuries before Bargnani’s were starters, Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton, who combined to miss 40 games.
“I just think injuries have just destroyed a lot of things that we wanted to set out and do,” Woodson said. “The fact that we haven’t been able to practice that much, Tyson has missed a helluva lot of games this season, Raymond was in and out, J.R. missing the first five games [due to a drug suspension], it has just been kind of a roller-coaster ride for everybody.’’
Woodson’s message to the players was despite the gloom and doom, the Knicks are in the thick of a playoff race, three games behind the eighth seed. Of course, in late December, Woodson boasted about “expecting’’ to win the Atlantic Division. The loss of Bargnani likely takes the heat off the coach regarding his job security.
“We’re not out of this,’’ Woodson said. “If this was the last week of the season, we didn’t have a shot making the playoffs, that’s a problem. We got 40 games left and we’re still in the hunt. As long as we’re in the hunt, I still say we got a chance.’’