Amar’e Stoudemire’s chances to play against the Celtics are high
Carmelo Anthony can breathe for a moment as Mike D’Antoni can say a silent prayer since things might not end up as badly as expected. This is because there is good news regarding Amar’e Stoudemire’s injury.
The player felt effects of back spasms before April 19th’s game 2 against the Boston Celtics and later had to leave the game in second quarter since he could not endure the pain. The Knicks’ All-Star power forward is expected to come back and
fight back the Boston Celtics on Friday night, April 22nd, 2011, at the Madison Square Garden, New York.
The Knicks received this good news on Wednesday after an MRI was conducted on Stoudemire’s back. The MRI did not show any signs of serious damage showing the Knicks a ray of hope amidst the thick clouds of despair.
The Knicks described the injury as a pulled muscle. Although the Knicks are hopeful that the player will return, a source told a news agency that he is still in pain and won’t be 100 percent for Friday’s game.
The source said, "Even if he's able to play, which I think he will, he's only going to be about 70 percent".
So even if Stoudemire returns, things will mostly depend on Anthony. Keeping his defenses strong, Melo will have to give a reply of his 42 point, 17 rebound performance.
Stoudemire had left the game in the second quarter and could not come back. Chauncey Billups was also sidelined with an injured left knee. The Knicks who are currently trailing the series, 0-2, behind the Boston Celtics will be relying heavily on Anthony’s
services even if Stoudemire is able to make a comeback.
Neither Stoudemire nor Billups were present during the team’s practice on Thursday. Stoudemire was not even present during his team’s training facility. While Billups was habilitating his left knee, Stoudemire was advised to stay at home and receive treatment
for his injury.
Coach D’Antoni was very concerned and expressed his worries, saying, "We don't want him to ride two hours in the car — hour up, hour back. The medical staff will go down and work with him all afternoon and night".
The coach however gave a sense of relief to Knicks’ fans and his team when he said he was pretty optimistic that the player will be there in the game. He is still not sure about the amount of time he will be available for during the game and said that it
depends on if the player’s lower back makes a recovery or not.
Billups is in a relatively worse condition and the coach did not sound as optimistic as he was in Stoudemire’s case.
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