NEW YORK — Knicks middle Karl-Anthony Cities revealed he’s coping with a Grade 2 quad pressure, which led to his “will he or will not he” standing within the hours main as much as Wednesday night time’s season-opening 119-111 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Sq. Backyard.
Shortly earlier than gametime, Cities declared himself match to play, then scored 19 factors and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes in a matchup between the 2 favorites within the Japanese Convention.
The choice to play Cities got here after he was downgraded to uncertain on the Knicks’ harm report early Wednesday afternoon, then upgraded to questionable an hour later.
“I have been banged up, and I actually have not gotten an opportunity to follow or play within the final two preseason video games,” Cities mentioned earlier than revealing the severity of his quad pressure. “I did not wish to disappoint the followers. It isn’t one thing that is straightforward to cope with, [but] we made it occur tonight.”
When requested if he was in ache whereas taking part in, Cities mentioned: “It was hurting, for positive.” He did not let on whether or not it will have an effect on his availability for Friday’s sport towards the Boston Celtics.
On a few performs, Cities used his body to overpower Cavaliers massive man Evan Mobley. He did not stray too far past the 3-point line, with simply 4 makes an attempt. The Knicks have emphasised taking part in sooner, however Cities confirmed he might additionally nonetheless play bully ball from time to time.
A flurry from Donovan Mitchell (31 factors) gave the Cavaliers a brief fourth-quarter lead, however the Knicks rapidly squelched it with a 14-0 run to take a 101-89 lead with 8:45 remaining. All of the harm was carried out with main scorer and Clutch Participant of the 12 months Jalen Brunson on the bench for his ordinary relaxation.
Cities shook off early foul bother to have a productive night time for the Knicks, who already have been with out two regulars: middle Mitchell Robinson (load administration) and swingman Josh Hart (again). Being and not using a third rotation participant would’ve despatched coach Mike Brown deeper into his bench throughout his first sport as Knicks coach.
Cities’ unsure standing added intrigue in a sport that already had loads, together with Brown getting his first style of the large expectations that await him after his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, helped lead the Knicks to their first convention finals since 2000.
Brown used 11 gamers within the opener, a considerably new growth from the earlier regime, and the Knicks held comfy leads for big parts of the night time.
“This crew is a deep crew,” Brown mentioned. “I give Leon Rose and his group numerous credit score. It is my job to maintain discovering mixtures that work. I received numerous room to develop, too.”
He added: “I can study on the fly as a result of now we have numerous guys that may play. I do not know if I will play 11 guys each night time, however we wish to play as many as we are able to.”
It wasn’t Brown’s first go-round at Madison Sq. Backyard, however the vitality was totally different for this season opener. He mentioned Spike Lee greeted him earlier than the sport and that he was stunned Lee knew who he was.
Brown was requested if he took in a second to really feel the expectations from the surface world, and he identified the interior ones are simply as weighty.
“Our expectations are extraordinarily excessive. Whether or not we received or misplaced, it is one sport,” Brown mentioned. “We do not really feel like we’re anyplace close to what we’re able to, and that is what makes it thrilling.”