Iman Shumpert out for 6-8 months after ACL tear - NBA Update
The first day of playoffs turned out to be a bad omen for New York Knicks. On one hand they received an ignominious, 100-67 defeat from Miami Heat, and on other they lost their rookie Iman Shumpert to a career jeopardizing injury.
The rookie suffered from a torn ACL while dribbling the ball near midcourt, he took a sudden turn and fell to the ground screaming, clutching his knee. The pain was so excruciating that he remained on the court screaming for several
minutes before he was carried off the court by his team mates. The MRI revealed that he has torn his lateral meniscus in left knee. He will have to undergo a surgery and the doctors projected that the recovery time after the surgery will be around 6-8 months.
The unfortunate injury left the Knick’ poignant and J.R. Smith expressed his feelings afterwards.
"It hurts your spirits when you see your best defensive player go down like that," J.R. Smith said. "We have a lot of people and hopefully someone can step up for him."
Shumpert was a diversified player who can provide defensive and offensive support coming off the bench. He was a brilliant one-on-one defender and he often troubled top tier offensive players.
His injury is nothing les then a blow for Knicks’ cause their roster is already missing key players.
However the team didn’t give up the good fight and Amare Stoudemire showed his determination to strike back.
"This series is not over," Knicks forward said. "We've got to learn from our mistakes today and get ready for Monday."
So in the absence of Shumpert, Kicks’ will have to discover a reliable option from their bench. Carlos Delfino has established himself as threat against shooting guards though he is not that quick but is good at man to man and
team defending.
At this time they clearly don’t have a player who can step into Iman’s shoes. Moreover 6-8 months recovery time means that he will be missing the 1st few weeks of next regular season. So the Knicks’ will have to find
a replacement for the rookie.
As for now in the 1st game of the playoffs they shot 35% from the floor and lost their key player, things can get uglier for Knicks.
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