Carmelo Anthony’s Knee Injury May Be Worse Than We Thought; The Indiana Pacers Should Be Embarassed

So who’s ready for a sh*tstorm of drama over the Knicks (mis)handling of Carmelo Anthony‘s knee injury? In this NY Daily News article, Frank Isola details the unsurprising lack of transparency the team employs with relaying information between their medical staff and the public, as well as the notion that ‘Melo’s knee injury is worse than previously thought. Isola talked to another orthopedic surgeon who speculates that ‘Melo either has a torn meniscus or an arthritic knee. You’ll recall that a torn meniscus is the same injury that ended Jeremy Lin‘s run in a Knicks uniform … In a jam-packed Saturday basketball bonanza full of great performances on the college and professional levels, no player or team was more ruthlessly dominant than the performance turned in by Tim Duncan against a scrappy Cleveland Cavaliers team. The 36-year old Duncan was in straight Terminator Mode against the Cavs, giving Cleveland the business to the tune of 30 points (on 13-19 shooting), 12 rebounds, four assists and five blocks as San Antonio rolled to their 51st win, 119-113. Tim’s cold-blooded efficiency was in full effect, maybe exemplified best by what he did to young Tyler Zeller, forcing the helpless rookie into five personal fouls in less than 16 minutes … Here’s something to think about as the Spurs ground up teams like hamburger meat on the way to the regular season finish line: They don’t play another back-to-back set of games until early April, meaning we’ll be seeing a fresh, destructive Time Duncan on the regular for the next few weeks … We almost spit out our drink when we saw ESPN’s headline for their recap of the Philly/Indiana game last night: “Hawes Dominates as Sixers Beat Pacers.” “Hawes” as in “Spencer” Hawes? As in the guy Philly fans are dying to run out of town right along with Andrew Bynum? Against a Roy Hibbert/David West/Paul George front line? While the aforementioned Tim Duncan may have turned in the most coolly efficient performance of last night, Hawes’ showing was of the once-in-a-lifetime variety (for him). Check out this line: 18 points, 16 boards, eight dimes, and seven blocks in the 98-91 Sixers win. Roy, we know you had 25 and 10, but come on man. This is the same Hawes whose six-point, one rebound showing in an ass-kicking at the hands of Nik Vucevic and the Magic back on February 26th in Philly was the centerpiece of Doug Collins‘ post game this-team-has-no-heart meltdown. This was set up to be a letdown game for Indy as the second game in a back-to-back following a close loss to the Lakers on Friday, but that’s no excuse to get owned by Spencer Hawes … Maybe there was some magic in the air for the Sixers. After all, Julius Erving was in the arena for Dr. J Bobblehead Night …

Go to the next page for Boston’s vengeance game and Martell Webster’s delusions…

Earlier in the week, the Boston Celtics suffered an embarrassing 26-point smacking at the hands of the woeful Charlotte Bobcats. In the rematch last night, no way Paul Pierce wasn’t going to make things right. The Truth had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists before sitting out the entire fourth quarter in a 105-88 pummeling on Charlotte in Round 2 … Most nights, playing the Charlotte Bobcats is a good way for upper echelon teams to get themselves right. For Boston last night, they had 11 players touch the floor, and every single one of them scored at least five points. The only guy who didn’t was Kevin Garnett, who was sitting out with an injury … Martell Webster detonated all over the Phoenix Suns last night for a career-high 34 points (seven threes) in a Washington blowout win in D.C. He must have been delirious after the game because he was talking about how much loves life with the Wizards. Webster, a free agent this summer, told the media after the game: “I would love to be here next year. We’ll see what happens. I’m having an extraordinary time here. The city is great, the fans are great, and the teammates are awesome.” … College basketball was awesome yesterday, even as we said goodbye to the Big East. Syracuse was rolling over Louisville, at one point up by 16 points. ‘Cuse sniper James Southerland was leading the charge, drilling three after three. But when Southerland went out with four fouls early in the second half, the whole thing flipped. Louisville went berserk and took it to the ‘Cuse eventually not only overcoming the 16-point hole, but also at one point going up by 18. The W gave the Cardinals their second straight Big East tournament title. Syracuse will be joining the ACC next year, with Louisville following in 2014 … In other games, Kansas beat Kansas State for the Big 12 title and Oregon won the Pac-12 title by beating UCLA. Wisconsin upset Indiana (their 12th straight victory over the Hoosiers) to move on in the big 10 Tourney, Ohio State beat Michigan State, and Florida and Miami were winners in their tourneys as well.

Follow Patrick Cassidy on Twitter

Follow Dime Magazine on Twitter

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook

×