MIAMI – The New York Knicks are in a tough spot.
Not only are they losing their first round series with the Miami Heat after getting drubbed by 33 points in Game 1 on Saturday, but they’re also losing the war of attrition.
Rookie shooting guard (and part-time back-up point guard) Iman Shumpert tore the ACL in his left knee in the third quarter of Game 1. Jeremy Lin, still recovering from surgery on his left knee, is not close to returning. And Baron Davis, after a strong first quarter, couldn’t finish Game 1 because of stiffness in his back.
Most important though, is the status of Tyson Chandler, the Knicks’ defensive anchor. And it doesn’t look to good for Game 2 on Monday (7 p.m. ET, TNT).
After missing Friday’s practice with the flu, Chandler played 21 minutes in Game 1. But he was ineffective on both ends of the floor. And while his teammates were back at AmericanAirlines Arena for practice on Sunday, Chandler stayed at the team hotel.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson did not sound optimistic about Chandler’s status for Game 2.
“The fact that they’re still giving I.V. and things of that nature to him, he’s just barely hanging in there,” Woodson said, calling Chandler a game-time decision for Monday. “I don’t know what he’s going to feel like tomorrow. Hopefully, a miracle happens overnight and he’s ready to play.”
Davis said that his back stiffened up after a collision with Dwyane Wade and a couple of tough screens from the Heat. But he felt better on Sunday and plans to play in Game 2.
Still, the Knicks aren’t likely to get 48 minutes out of Davis and back-up Mike Bibby. Shumpert filled in at point guard in those minutes that the real point guards weren’t in the game. So on Monday, Woodson will need to find someone else to bring the ball up the floor. And that might have to be Carmelo Anthony.
This is all a bit reminiscent of last year, when the Knicks lost Chauncey Billups to a knee injury in Game 1 of their first round series with the Celtics. And then Amar’e Stoudemire injured his back in warmups before Game 2.
“It’s tough, but I’m not one to make excuses,” Woodson said. “We’re going to have to play.”
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John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.
Its unfortunate. Unless Woodson can conjure up a good lineup or atleast Chandler wakes up feeling all good, this is gonna be a sweep. Aww i wanted the heat to face a strong team.
who cares
People who want to see good basketball care. I watched the first game hoping to see a competative game. Sure, I fully expect the Heat to win this series but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the games while it happens. Instead I was bored of this game after the outcome had been decided before half time. As all of these injuries will likely prevent New York from having any hope of coming back, I doubt I’ll watch another game of this series. At least the Indiana-Orlando game was a good one, otherwise I’d just be watching Western Conference games until the Conference Semis.
This will be a ball game slash SERIES.
DWade is really a dirty fart.. Injure a player to win the game.
plain DUMB. I’m not surprise though…
That is if you’re referring to yourself and your Heat
wade is far from the play moron..lol
A moron is someone like you who didn’t know who I’m referring to.
It’s over for the Knicks… I just hope they compete and make it respectable. This team will go through a makeover next year. Amare’ is half the player we thought he was and I believe he even knows that.
its too bad that the new york knicks have key players who are suffering from injuries. I really thought they had a good chance to upset the heat. Its not every year a 2nd seed team gets defeated by a 7th seeded team. but with these key players injured, i think the miami heat will take full advantage and defeat the knicks in 5 games.
Take care, Iman!
They had the chance to lose their last two regular season games and play Chicago. Instead they go with the “I’m not afraid of the Heat” mindset and this is what you get for being an idiot and not realistic. It would have been a grreat eastern conference finals with a full healthy team.
a good point guard is what they need…
But DWade just injured the ‘good ballhandler’
D stands for DIRTY
Wade wasn’t near him at the time so how can you blame him????? If you were looking to blame anyone it should have been Chalmers. However, as you can clearly see in the video Shumpert just went down awkwardly which is a really shame.
I’m not talking about Shumpert.
that’s just game 1. Knicks will eat the Heat lmao!
NY in 7!
totally not happening
WAKE UP!!!
I think th knicks should rest up who ever they can in the next game if the refs are being one sided again. I wonder why the refs seemed to panic everytime the knicks tryed to play. A tech on carmelo for lightly tossing the ball to the ref. Chandler gets flagret foul on lebron, lebron is a flopper and so is wade. That much be very discouraging for the players to feel like a bad call is gonna be called no matter what they do.
I’m a Knick fan but since my comments will be watched I will just say this:(hopefully you guys catch onto this)
1. I can only just hope that we beat the Miami Heat but if Miami Heat represented as the eastern champs to defend the west, TV ratings will be sky high. The NBA will earn good money to watch Miami Heat and OKC play.
2. During Game 1 it was the Knicks VS Refs.
3. Now Chandler and Baron Davis are hurt?
Thanks for reading.
Lossing shumpert is hard for the knicks and hope he recovers soon as possible. Tyson Chandler, hope he feels better before tomorrows game. You know he is gonna play no matter what? Tyson is like that, a champion. I wonder if the officals are gonna give the knicks a break this next game and not hammer them with the some bad calls?
Lebron is such a front running bully I hope he gets knocked out with a hard foul at some point.
wow knicks just can’t catch a break. they need a new medical staff as well. fire everybody
The Knicks are a strong team you could’ve said injured or down for now team for now, with a possibility of 4 people being out were not going to be the same as with them in.Now if the Heat were to lose their big three it wouldnt be fair on your side because not to insult the heat but there not nearly as good without the big three then with them.All I can say for now for the Knicks is don’t get swept and NEXT YEAR. Lets hope all the players sign there contracts.
Shameful loss for the Knicks.They´ll have a hard time bouncing back from this one…
new york is the best best match 4 the heat but unfortunately their key players are gone ….damn….so upset…..
Roy, Rose, Oden, Shumpert… ever heard of the pharmaceutical supplement called PROCOSA?
I too, had hopes for the Knicks upsetting the Heat.
Now with Iman gone and all these other injuries there’s no way in hell that’s happening.
Wish they would’ve lost the last couple games and fought the Bulls considering D.Rose is out anyway.
(And me Clippers could’ve gotten home court advantage),
Oh well, better luck next year.
its not the refs fault if you lose my 33…. gosh, heat 4-2
Like the Knicks were even going to upset the Heat! Who cares they are not even good players!! LEts GO HEAT!!
Who’s gonna guard LeBron? ‘Melo? Naah.
Who’s gonna guard Wade? Shumpert? Gone.
We all know how this series will look like after four games.
LETS GOOO HEAT 2012 NBA CHAMPIONS
LEBRON JAMES 2012 MVP
Have Amare come off the bench and insert Novak
please god make it fair for knicks and chicago and tear LBJ or wade’s ACL. Then we will see who is the real champion at the conference final.
oh what a poor boy… lol
Big fan of Shump, and I hope he recovers.
Then again, I feel the same way. Knicks should play as strong as they can although this will be a sweep by the Heat.
Go Wade!
This will be Toney Douglas’ time to shine if Davis and Bibby can’t fill significant minutes.
If god has a heart he will do something for LBJ’s flop by giving him season ending concussion next time he flops.
He doesnt flop its called hacked get it straight
Oh please He got backscreened by chandler and he immediate goes down and grabs his neck when the bumping wasn’t even close to the neck area and cost chandler 4th foul when it was legitimate play. When JR smith was tangled with LBJ, LBJ lost his footing and he put a great holywood act to make it look like JR gave him hard shove and take a tumble. Jesus crist even the commentators on ESPN agree with a flop on those calls okay? I hope someone really punish him for those flopping
oh excuses! haha
there was a few bad calls but blaming it on the refs come on now they were up by 40 in the 3rd quarter lebron didnt even have to play in the 4th the knicks couldnt beat the heat with 7 players playing at a time if the heat play defense like that they shouldve took there chances against the bulls the knicks match up horrible against the heat good luck to shumpert though hes got a very bright future that was unfortunate
SO u mad lebron gets his calls???? He gets hacked everytime he has the ball
Lebron doesn’t deserve about 40% of calls that he gets. Get the fact straight there was no hacking that wasn’t called in the first game.
Oh man….. How I would love it if what u said was true….. If he was hacked everytime he had the ball he would have a couple of broken limbs already…. LBJ is a talented player no doubt but his ego & antics put his game on the back-burner…… I would love to see him play one game without bng dramatic….. Without having to resolve to tactics like Flopping because a player who can single-handedly take the Cavs to Conference Finals has all the talent required to take an all star team like the Heat all the way……
I strongly believe if the Knicks just change the way they think they can win this series even though the Heat “seem” like the stronger team.
These comments are just made because the majority of you hate lebron. To wish that a player gets injured for ur pleasure, that is just sick and disgusting. And FYI LeBron alone is 10 times better than the entire knicks starting lineup. The couldn’t win a regualar season game against the HEAT you really think that they are going to win a playoff game. Seeing as we feel sorry for you. We’ll let you win one ………. NAH try again next year.
What upsetting the HEAT??? your dreaming right??? If they play the bulls they might make it to the 2nd round… These NYK fans don’t respect MIAMI HEAT…. So you’re forgetting that the HEAT is ECF Champs last season…. With No ROSE around it is much easier for the HEAT this time….. Can we say sweeping all Eastern Conference….but then there are excuses…. The HEAT destroyed (insert team) bco’z this one injured this that one injured that….then again blaming the refs… I may say specially to those NYK fans… pack your bags co’z you’re fishing!!!! Puro kasi kyo Jakol!!!! ULoLs!!!!
Lets Go HEAT!!!
Whether the Knicks win the series or not, my hats are off to them. It’s obvious that the Heat are strong because of the big 3, but not because of the entire team, or their system.
C – Amare / Harrelson
PF – Jeffries
SF – J.R. Smith / Novak
SG – Fields / Davis
PG – Anthony
We believe!
Hello there is still Toney Douglas why don’t they let him play
Dream on Knicks fans!!! It’s over!!! Even if your savior Lin returns.. LeBron is doing the right thing.. Attack attack attack.. It’s not the refs fault for calling to many fouls against the Knicks.. It was the Knicks being the Knicks who doesn’t play any decent defensive in game one.. Continue hating on LeBron & Heat but that won’t change a thing that the Heat owns the Knicks all year long..
You do realize the Knicks have been one of the best defensive teams all year… Right? Or did you not watch the NBA this year? The Heat are only good because of the big 3. You have no other good players. We saw the type of team that gets blown out by the Wizards without their precious big 3 so knock of the we are the best act. We lost a superstar in Lin. Amare was hurt like 50% of the year. Shump is now out so wade is not even going to get guarded cause we have no other really spectacular defender. Davis is hurt now so we don’t have a PG aside the Toney the Bum Douglas. Tyson is sick otherwise you would have no way of bringing an inside presence on us. This series if NY was healthy would have been the most competitive of the whole playoffs and I think it would have been decided in 7 by who knows. Melo,JR, and Novak will try their hardest to beat the Heat but you guys should seriously stop thinking your team is the best in the world. The Knicks , Celts, Indiana, and The Bulls could all when healthy give you a run for your money considering they all have teams instead of 3 players with bums around them.