Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau refused to answer whether he expects Derrick Rose to return in March from a minor ankle procedure, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post (Twitter link). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday (via Twitter) that Rose could return in one or two weeks.
“Yeah, I wish I could answer that, but I can’t,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, he needs some time right now. You just have to sort of let him go through it and be patient with it.”
Rose’s procedure addressed a skin infection in the area of his December ankle surgery, according to Wojnarowski. Rose has only played in 26 of the Knicks’ 61 games this season. The team ranks 12th in the East with a 25-36 record and has lost five straight games.
There’s more from the Eastern Conference tonight:
- The Cavaliers are looking to re-establish their defensive identity entering March, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic writes. Cleveland most recently put forth a strong defensive performance against Washington, winning the contest 92-86. “To be honest with you, I was less concerned about the results and more concerned about the effort and the performance,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “If we do the things and play the way that we play, I can live with whatever the results are. I just thought that our past two games, we weren’t ourselves. So win or loss, if we’re ourselves, and the best version of ourselves, we can live with that.”
- Knicks center Nerlens Noel has been dealing with plantar fasciitis since before the All-Star break, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. Noel hasn’t played in the team’s last six games. He’s appeared in 25 games this season (11 starts), averaging 3.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per outing.
- The Bucks season-long struggles showed up against the Nets on Saturday, Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes. Nehm believes the team’s third-quarter performances have been a major issue. Milwaukee lost the third quarter 43-34 and dropped the contest 126-123. “To be honest, man, sh–, they just kicked our butt in the third quarter,” Bobby Portis said. “They scored 43 points. I mean we scored enough just to keep it close, but I mean that’s been our kryptonite the whole year. I’m kind of just tired of talking about it, bro. I don’t know what we can do, what we’re going to do. … we’ve been talking about this since December, man, and in a couple of days, it’s gonna be March, so we gotta figure that out, and soon, man. The season’s about to be over.”
Who cares about Berman. Why exactly does he need to rush back. Time to play McBride. Don’t get what Thibs is waiting for. The guy looks burnt to me. He’s been waiting all yr. For Randle to turn it around. And the team D to automatically show up. Sometimes I get the feeling he doesn’t know where he is. It’s a young rebuilding team here. At this point winning is not the most important thing.
He’s not going to last this way. Even if you want to trade. You have to have players other teams want. So play the young guys and show them up. Wats up already.
I’m so tired of watching Randle run the offense. I can’t watch him anymore, seriously.
Calipari did not run the UK offense through him but Randle was a beast down in the blocks during their Final 4 run. He is a better shooter than at UK but he is a ball stopper. That has not changed.
He wasn’t last yr. To me it seems. He thinks it’s up to him to get it done. We have no real PG without Rose. So he just takes over and Thibs let’s him. It’s gotten insane. How many times you going to do the same thing. Before you realize it’s not working. Pressure of NY is getting to both of them lol.
Why is Portis trippin? Per the resident hoops rumors expert commentor..and I’m paraphrasing here: ‘the bucks are fine, they’re going to win 25 of their final 30 games.’
Watching Knicks yesterday was painful. Feels like they have zero chemistry.
Randle is…not good. And RJ does not impress me. He gets numbers because he hogs the ball. Reminds me of an off-brand Jayson Tatum. Only positive is at least Fournier is maintaining his trade value.
Knicks fans: would you redo last season if you could? Was the playoff joy worth the lasting implications?
How was RJ not impressive?— he says, *I’m going to the rim and get a basket now*, and then he does. He has much more flex(tension) in his body than Tatum. He does do it solo like Tatum, true.
I think the Knix have drafted teasing point guards, an inexperienced GM issue. They will always be good for next year.