Carmelo Anthony, battling an aching right shoulder, was in the starting lineup Sunday for the Knicks against the Bulls — but on the bench in the fourth quarter.
“Early it felt good,” said Anthony, who played 28 minutes in the 100-89 win over the Bulls. “Throughout the course of the game, it went right back to the way it was feeling like yesterday and the day before. I’m going to try to be cautious. I’m going to talk to everybody, see what they want to do and go from there.”
Coach Mike Woodson said he rode Anthony because “I wanted to win tonight and I wanted these guys to play to win, and we did. I think these next two games, we’ll scale back.”
Woodson indicated he will give his young players more time against the Nets and Raptors on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While there might be a lot of blame to go around for the disaster that is the Knicks’ 2013-14 season, little or none of it should be directed at Anthony, Woodson said. The coach also noted he is unsure what Anthony plans for the final two games Tuesday and Wednesday against the Nets and Raptors.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do. He hasn’t indicated to me that he’s going to sit down,” Woodson said before Sunday night’s game. “That’s Melo. There’s one thing I can’t say, you can’t point it at him, because he’s been there all year. He’s had a hell of a season for us.”
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, who’s done another masterful job with a team that lost Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, was asked if he was surprised the Knicks are not in the playoffs.
“Those things happen. They’ve taken on a lot of injuries, they made a great effort to get back in it; they’re a tough team, and sometimes it comes down to a bounce of the ball. It could be a game or two, which is what happened here. But down the stretch, they’ve played very well,” Thibodeau said.
Thibodeau, whose Bulls had Rose for just 10 days, said the trade of Deng had the rockiest effect on the team. “Luol, he’s been the hardest guy to replace,” Thibodeau said.
After a 2012-13 season with 54 victories and the first playoff series win since 2000, the Knicks are back among the teams cleaning out lockers while 16 others advance. Since the 2000-01 season, the Knicks have made the playoffs five times. They are 1-5 in series matchups, 9-21 in games.
Woodson on playing out the string: “You’ve got to stay positive about where you are. We are playing better basketball and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we’re a little healthier than we were in the middle of the season. And you’ve got to look at the young guys.
“Like Jeremy Tyler and guys like Toure’ Murry. And Cole [Aldrich]. You’ve got to start thinking about are they going to be our future players here in terms of us trying to develop these guys over the summer. At this point it’s hard to even talk about personnel or things like that.”