Melo Still Gametime Decision; Amar'e to Practice Again Thursday | Zagsblog
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Friday / March 29.
  • Melo Still Gametime Decision; Amar’e to Practice Again Thursday

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    GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Carmelo Anthony remains a gametime decision for tonight’s Nets game, when the Knicks could be very short-handed against their intra-city rivals.

    Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby are both out (sore feet) and Steve Novak (flu like symptoms) is questionable.

    “It’s a gametime decision [on Anthony],” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said after shootaround. “I mean, he’s moving around pretty good so we’ll see.”

    He added: “He still hasn’t indicated that he’s going to play…I think he’s going to come out and warm up and see how he feels.”

    Anthony did not address the media, but he took shots at shootaround while being defended by Iman Shumpert and looked pretty good. He sprained his ankle last Thursday against the Lakers and has missed two games since.

    “I never took a fall like that,” Anthony said Tuesday. “I think I got lucky.”

    Meantime, Amar’e Stoudemire participated in shootaround and will practice Thursday with the Knicks D-League team, the Erie BayHawks. It remains unclear when he will debut, but it is possible he could play Friday against the Chicago Bulls or Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

    “We’ll see how he feels [Thursday] after he practices with the Bay team,” Woodson said.

    Woodson said Stoudemire wouldn’t necessarily need to practice with the Knicks before playing in a game.

    “I don’t know, I can’t answer that,” Woodson said. “It’s going to be entirely up to him and the doctors in terms of how he’s feeling.

    “If he says he’s ready, then I trust that and I’ll play him.”

    Woodson said he thought Stoudemire looked good after practicing Tuesday for the first time this season.

    “I thought he looked pretty good,” he said. “In terms of being able to withstand some of the banging and being able to get up and down. That’s going to be the major test is being able to cut and move laterally when you talk about trying to defense.

    “I ain’t too concerned about offense. He’s gotta be able to withstand trying to defend low-post players and guys that are coming at him off the dribble. That’s going to be the true test.”

    As for Wallace, Woodson called him “day-to-day” but it is unclear when he will return.

    “His foot is bothering him and it’s kind of day-to-day,” Woodson said. “We’re rehabbing him and I’m not going to rush him back. He was trying to play and he couldn’t play. We gotta get him where he’s consistently on the floor.”

    Also, Chris Copeland was recalled after a one-day stint in the D-League and will be able to play following his 29-point career-high outing Monday in the loss to Houston.

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    Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.

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