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AP Source: Knicks, Woodson could agree this week
A person with knowledge of the situation says the New York Knicks and coach Mike Woodson are finalizing a multiyear deal that could be announced this week.
Woodson led the Knicks to an 18-6 record and a first-round playoff loss to Miami as the interim coach after replacing Mike D’Antoni on March 14. The Knicks’ victory in Game 4 of the series snapped an NBA-record, 13-game postseason losing streak that dated to 2001.
Top players Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler all endorsed Woodson’s return and will get their wish, the person tells The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract is not finished yet. The New York Post reported Tuesday that the sides were committed to getting the deal done before the Memorial Day weekend.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Knicks coach says Lin won’t return in this round
Interim coach Mike Woodson says Jeremy Lin will not play in the Knicks’ first-round series against Miami, even if they avoid elimination Wednesday.
The Knicks trail the Heat 3-1 and have lost guards Baron Davis and Iman Shumpert to knee injuries during the series. They hoped Lin would be able to return from his April 2 surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee, but Woodson says Tuesday that Lin is out.
“Speaking with medical and Jeremy, he will not play in this series,” Woodson said after practice.
The Knicks said Lin was expected to miss six weeks after the surgery, but he has been working out at practice. Woodson says Lin shot around Tuesday “but he’s just not physically ready to play.”
Veteran Mike Bibby will start Wednesday.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Baron Davis out a year with severe knee injury
Baron Davis has torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee, a potentially career-threatening injury for the Knicks’ 33-year-old point guard.
The Knicks said Davis was expected to be out a year after an MRI on Monday also revealed a partial tear of the patella tendon.
Davis was hurt Sunday in the Knicks’ 89-87 victory over Miami, crumbling to the court when his knee gave out as he dribbled upcourt on a fast break in the third quarter. Some players looked away as replays of the gruesome injury were shown on the overhead video board.
Davis has battled injuries in recent years and said he wasn’t sure if he would play again after a herniated disk in his back last year kept him out until February.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Bosh Will Play In Game 3
Bosh returns home to be with expectant wife
Heat forward Chris Bosh may miss Game 3 of Miami’s Eastern Conference first-round series in New York on Thursday after being summoned home because his wife was preparing to give birth.
The Heat were told late Wednesday that Bosh had to return home. Bosh left from New York on a private plane, and his wife, Adrienne, posted a photo on a social media account saying “hurry home.”
The Heat have not ruled Bosh out for Game 3. The team will hold a morning shootaround practice at Madison Square Garden.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Short-handed Knicks brace for Heat in New York
Amare Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert are sidelined. Jeremy Lin isn’t back yet.
The New York Knicks are short-handed, and Carmelo Anthony says he doesn’t know where the offense is going to come from in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Miami Heat.
“Nobody never said it was going to be easy,” Anthony says.
And if the Knicks are hoping to get an advantage from playing at home, well, they can probably forget that. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade thrive at Madison Square Garden and will be extra fired up to try and move the Heat within one victory of the second round.
Stoudemire is out for Game 3 after cutting his left hand while punching the case around a fire extinguisher following Miami’s Game 2 victory Monday. He hopes to return in Game 4.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Knicks’ Chandler is NBA Defensive Player of Year
Tyson Chandler, the catalyst for the New York Knicks’ defensive improvement, has been voted the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Chandler beat out Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka and three-time champion Dwight Howard of Orlando to become the first Knicks player to win the award.
The Knicks ranked in the NBA’s top 11 teams in both opponents’ field goal percentage and points allowed. They gave up an average of 94.7 points, an improvement of 11 per game from the 105.7 they surrendered in 2010-11, when they tied for 27th in the league.
Chandler received 311 points, including 45 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the US and Canada. Ibaka, the league leader with 3.65 blocked shots per game, had 41 first-place votes and 294 points.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Knicks will evaluate Lin further later this week
Jeremy Lin took part in another practice with the New York Knicks on Monday, and the team says it hopes to know more later this week about when the guard might be able to return to the lineup.
Lin participated in the team’s gameday shootaround before its playoff matchup with the Heat, the fourth straight day that Lin did some on-court work in Miami.
The guard who was the biggest story in the NBA after putting up big numbers in February had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee four weeks ago.
Knicks coach Mike Woodson says the team will “have a better feel” about Lin’s recovery when it returns to New York for practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. Game 3 of the Knicks-Heat series is Thursday night.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Stoudemire hurt postgame, Heat beat NY, 104-94
Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire is apologizing “to the fans and my team” for an incident after New York’s 104-94 loss to Miami in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series on Monday night that left him with a cut on his left hand.
At least one of Stoudemire’s teammates says the cut is bad enough to keep him out of at least Game 3 of the series in New York on Thursday night.
Stoudemire posted a message on Twitter saying he is “so mad at myself” and that he is “not proud of my actions.”
The Knicks did not say exactly what happened, though a fire-extinguisher case near the locker room was damaged and drops of blood stained the carpet.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Jordan’s Bobcats could become NBA’s worst ever
Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest NBA player ever, is poised to become the owner of the worst team in league history.
His Charlotte Bobcats have one more shot to avoid the title.
They are teetering on the verge of the worst winning percentage (.106) ever and could clinch the dubious distinction with a loss Thursday night at home to the New York Knicks in the lockout-shortened regular-season finale for both teams.
Charlotte’s record-setting futility would eclipse the mark set by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. They finished with a .110 winning percentage and a 9-73 record in a full regular season.
Jordan won six NBA championships, but Charlotte (7-58) has become a laughingstock.
Guard D.J. Augustin says “many people are laughing at us … but we take it very seriously.”
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
