TORONTO — The Knicks will be without both Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis for Thursday night's game against the Raptors.
Anthony will miss his second straight game due to soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, while Porzingis will miss a game for the first time in his NBA career due to an upper respiratory infection.
Anthony hopes to return Friday against the Suns. He went through a workout after shootaround and said he would do more Thursday afternoon. But he said the plan is to hold off one more day and see how he feels Friday.
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“I don’t want to come back and try to deal with a back-to-back situation,” Anthony said. “So I’ll have another day under my belt and hopefully prepare for tomorrow.”
Anthony said he hasn’t undergone any tests or MRIs and isn’t concerned that this is anything major.
“I’m very confident that this is nothing but some fatigue, a little soreness, some general soreness, probably just an overload of work,” Anthony said. “I feel much better.”
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Anthony started feeling soreness late last week after logging heavy minutes in a double-OT win over the 76ers and overtime victory against the Jazz.
Those were his first games back after missing two with a sprained right ankle. Anthony said he was “over compensating” on his left side. He believes that and the minutes led to the soreness.
Anthony didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss at Charlotte because of the knee, but planned to return for Tuesday’s game against the Thunder. He said his knee wouldn’t let him.
“I definitely wanted to play against Oklahoma City and then that day the soreness spiked up so I didn’t want to go out there and be [limited] out there,” Anthony said. “I wanted to go out there and be myself. If I can’t be myself out there I feel like I’m hindering the team a little bit.”
The Knicks are 0-5 without Anthony this season. They may also be without point guard Jose Calderon, who is questionable with a groin strain.
- Newsday