Carmelo Anthony, nursing a sprained left ankle, is listed as questionable for tonight’s game against Cleveland but is not expected to play as he tries to rests up for Monday when Jeremy Lin returns to the Garden.
Anthony underwent treatment yesterday at the Knicks practice facility, though the team did not practice.
The injury occurred in the third quarter of Thursday night’s win against the Lakers after a hard foul by Dwight Howard sent Anthony crashing to the floor, his leg bending like a pretzel. He was in a lot of pain after the game but not on crutches — a good sign. Coach Mike Woodson called the injury “a slight sprain’’ and general manager Glen Grunwald said he didn’t believe it was serious.
Anthony scored 30 points in 22 minutes, 55 seconds vs. Mike D’Antoni’s squad before the crash — a sweet encore to his 45-point Brooklyn blowout. The Knicks hung on in the fourth quarter without their star forward, winning 116-107. D’Antoni credited Anthony’s strong play this season to having two veteran point guards in Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd.
“He’ll be back out here shortly,’’ Rasheed Wallace said. “It shows what kind of team we have [winning without him]. We did it before when he went down, with the lacerated finger. It brings us together more to know somewhere in the back of our mind we can’t let him down and we can’t have a lot of people think we’re all Carmelo, all Carmelo.’’
* Tyson Chandler on explaining Mike Woodson’s 35-11 record as Knicks coach, the best coaching record in Knicks history after 46 games: “A lot of it is his coaching style, holding guys accountable. He doesn’t treat anyone different except for the rookies. Myself, Kidd, Rasheed, Kurt [Thomas], James White, to Melo and [Ronnie] Brewer, it doesn’t matter. He speaks to everyone the same way. He demands the same thing — that’s respect and hard work.’’
* The Knicks family was well-represented at Wednesday’s Sandy “superconcert’’ at the Garden, which was arranged by owner James Dolan. Amar’e Stoudemire, Clyde Frazier and team executives Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, John Starks and Baron Davis manned the telethon phones, while Anthony, Kidd and Chandler attended the show. Kobe Bryant also was there on the eve of the Lakers showdown, and a source said he danced during Kanye West’s set then bolted the Garden.