Landry Shamet dislocated his shoulder during the preseason and could have opted for season-ending surgery. The Knicks guard instead chose to rehab the injury and so far, that decision is paying dividends, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes.
Shamet was waived in October, then re-signed with the club in December. Shamet is currently getting steady minutes due to injuries and scored a season-high 13 points against Sacramento on Monday.
“Yeah, knock on wood. I’m in a good spot,” Shamet said. “I attacked the rehab, took it very seriously. Frankly, that’s not much of a thought I have. I feel good, I’m in a good spot.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Sixers coach Nick Nurse came to dread reports from his medical staff as their once-promising season disintegrated, he told Michael Grange of Sportsnet. “It was really, really difficult at times,” Nurse said. “What made it most difficult is when you’d actually go on a run and think you’re making some progress, and then you get hit again (with another injury). I remember having one really good win, I can’t remember who it was against, and after the game — I always get a report from the medical team — and he came in and I was like ‘please just let me get to the next game, we just played really good.’ And he’s like, ‘uh, I don’t know what to tell you.’ You kept thinking you were going to get these guys back… and guys kept going down.”
- In the Celtics’ six-point loss to the Thunder on Wednesday, Oklahoma City shot 35 free throws while the Celtics only had 12 attempts. “Yeah, it’s tough,” Jayson Tatum said Brian Robb of Masslive.com. “You’re not going to keep them off the line. They’re very intentional about that, and they have been all season. You’re not going to be the first team where they shoot 5 free throws or something crazy like that. But there is a balance between that and 35 free throws. Granted, some of them were fouls. Some of them we’ve got to be better at. But I’m not saying that’s why we lost or that’s the ref’s fault or anything like that. That’s how it’s going to be in the playoffs.”
- Nets first-year coach Jordi Fernandez is drawing high praise from opposing head coaches as well as his current and former players. Lucas Kaplan of Netsdaily.com examines why Fernandez has made such a strong impression.