Bill Duffy, Carmelo Anthony’s agent, said this morning the Nuggets’ forward would rather play than sit out a week with a right elbow bruise
“He’s against sitting out. There’s no question,” Duffy said. “It’s because he’s a competitor. He wants to win and he wants to be what he can be out there. So, this wasn’t his idea by any means. But sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.”
Anthony sat out last night’s game against Portland, and he will sit out again tonight when the Nuggets face the Trail Blazers in Portland. He did make the trip with the team, however, and is scheduled to be back in uniform Sunday when the Nuggets travel to face the New York Knicks. The Nuggets play Friday night at home against Philadelphia.
Anthony said his elbow has given him problems the entire season, but grew exponentially worse in the last week and his scoring and rebounding numbers reflect the pain affecting his game. He averaged 11.5 points on a combined 8-of-27 shooting, and averaged just 1.5 rebounds in his past two games. After being at Denver’s game Saturday at Phoenix, Duffy was among a group who conferred and decided the best thing to do was shut down the high-scoring forward.
“I went in the locker room after the game, and I said ‘Look Melo, how do you feel? I think you’ve been understating the severity of this pain.’ And, to me, it was obvious in his performance,” Duffy said. “It’s a contact sport. And basically, when you’re in that position, you’re not helping the team and you’re not helping yourself. It’s too long of a season.
“And so it was my opinion at that time that he should just shut it down and get healthy so that he can be the player that he can be to help his team win.”
Anthony will let the injury rest and not do any shooting or dribbling while getting constant treatment. Still, the injury may linger the entire season. But, Duffy said, this was the best course of action.
“Certainly he’s not hurting himself by resting it,” he said. “When you have something like that and you continue to bang it and hit it, it further irritates it. So if he has a good week or seven days without contact and rest and rehabilitation, I think you’re giving yourself a better chance for it to heal.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
