Carmelo Anthony to Get Injured Right Knee Drained

It wasn’t an emotional return to Denver for Carmelo Anthony — it was simply painful. The New York Knicks superstar forward aggravated his knee injury, and will now have to overcome his fear of needles and get the fluid buildup drained. Per the NY Times: “The Denver Nuggets, the team Anthony revitalized and then spurned, dealt the Knicks a 117-94 pounding Wednesday, sucking all of the drama out of the evening and leaving the Knicks in a collective daze. And that was not even the worst of it. Anthony is heading back to New York to have his troublesome right knee drained. He will miss Thursday night’s game in Portland. Beyond that, his status is unclear. He could conceivably miss the final two games of this five-game trip as well. Anthony has been dealing with stiffness and soreness in the knee for three weeks but until now had declined to have it drained. He took three games off last week in the hope that rest would be enough. ‘I was just kind of being naïve to myself, just trying to psyche myself out and say, ‘I can do it, I can do it,’ said Anthony, who left the game in the third quarter. ‘But you just come to a point where you just got to figure it out and get to the bottom of it and move on.’ […] The Knicks were being blown out long before halftime, and long before losing Chandler and Anthony to injury. The Nuggets beat them repeatedly in transition, leading by as many as 25 points in the first half and by 34 in the second half. Anthony did not stay for the humiliation, checking out of the game with 9 minutes 45 seconds left in the third quarter with the Knicks trailing, 70-44. He finished with 9 points in 22 minutes.”