Carmelo Anthony’s Sprained Ankle ‘Was A Lot Worse’ Than He Thought

Carmelo Anthony said his sprained left ankle “was a lot worse” than he thought, and that he was unsure if he would be able to play in the Knicks’ first game of 2014.

Anthony sprained his ankle last Monday in Orlando during the Knicks’ 103-98 win over the Magic, and has missed the last three games. The small forward said he did some running on Sunday and Monday, but that he was limited in practice.

“It was worse than I thought,” Anthony said. “The night that I sprained it, I was trying to get back in the game. I went back and taped it up. As soon as I walked out of that locker room, I couldn’t do it. Then the next day, it swelled up on me big time. It kept swelling, so we had to get control of that first and then go from there. So it was a lot worse than what I actually thought.”

Carmelo Anthony said he hasn’t undergone any further tests on the sprained left ankle, but said he hoped he would be able to return when the Knicks open the new year with a three-game trip against the Spurs.

“I’m getting there. I feel a lot better. There’s still some things lingering. But each day it’s getting better,
the 29-year-old said. “Still some swelling in there, still some tenderness. Eventually I’ll have to play with a little bit of tenderness, a little bit of pain.'”

Anthony also said that he was disappointed with his team’s performance since he’s been out. The Knicks lost all three games that he missed and are tied with the Sixers for the third-worst record in the league (9-21). Philadelphia, however, snapped a 13-game road skid with a 111-104 win over the Lakers on Sunday.

Anthony said the Knicks need to play with more effort, which he didn’t think should be an issue.

“The effort is definitely not there some days, or it’s there and then sometimes it’s not,” he said. “We’ve got to get some consistency from that standpoint.”

He added, “We shouldn’t be talking about lack of effort and inconsistency from that standpoint. But we are and we’ve got to find a solution to that. The solution is just to go out there and just do it. You can’t teach having energy on the court and having effort out there on the basketball court. It’s just got to happen.”

The New York Knicks will play their first game of 2014 on Thursday, January 2, in San Antonio.

[Photo credit: Mark Runyon / Flickr]