Karl-Anthony Cities doubled over in ache within the second quarter Saturday, clutching and shaking his left hand after drawing contact whereas driving to the rim.
The All-Star middle remained within the recreation and ended up logging 36 minutes, however he completed simply 5-for-18 from the sphere in a 115-93 loss to the Celtics on the Backyard in Sport 3 of the second spherical.
Nonetheless, in line with beginner lip readers on social media, it appeared that Cities mentioned later within the recreation that he believed he “broke” one thing on the play.
“It is what it is. I just want to do whatever I can to be out there,” Cities mentioned afterward. “It is what it is. I’m gonna keep finding ways to play, so I ain’t tripping.”
Cities completed with 21 factors and 10 rebounds in Sport 3, with most of his level complete attributable to attending to the free-throw line for 11 makes an attempt and sinking 10 of them.
the Knicks’ Sport 3 blowout loss to the Celtics. Jason Szenes / New York Submit
However the 7-footer additionally missed 4-of-5 tries from 3-point vary to fall to 1-for-7 within the collection after he nailed 42 p.c throughout the common season and 48 p.c in six video games within the first spherical towards the Pistons.
Cities, who missed one recreation whereas coping with a right-hand challenge in January, obtained tousled with Al Horford and Jrue Vacation on a drive with just a little greater than seven minutes remaining in Saturday’s second quarter.
The “I think I broke it” second captured by ABC cameras got here late within the half after Cities fought Luke Kornet for a rebound. The New Jersey product additionally was proven wincing within the third quarter after a foul referred to as towards Vacation.
“It’s the playoffs, people are going to get hit and you’ve got to play through things,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “That’s why you do it your complete season. Nobody’s enjoying 100%.
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“But you have to understand that you can play well when you’re feeling less than your best. I think the mental toughness part of this is huge.”
Cities declined to say whether or not he underwent an X-ray or different assessments on his wrist or hand, saying he’d “let [the Knicks] tell you that.”
The five-time All-Star is averaging 19.7 factors per recreation within the playoffs, virtually 5 factors beneath his regular-season scoring output of 24.4 ppg in his first season with the Knicks following a commerce from the Timberwolves.
