An sickness wasn’t sufficient to maintain Karl-Anthony Cities out of Wednesday evening’s sport in opposition to his former crew.
Cities popped up on the Knicks’ damage report with a questionable label on Wednesday morning because of an undisclosed sickness, and head coach Mike Brown described the star huge man as a game-time determination.
However Cities was cleared earlier than tip-off in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves and occupied his normal spot within the Knicks’ beginning lineup.
The Knicks acquired Cities, 29, within the October 2024 blockbuster commerce that despatched ahead Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota.
Cities confronted the Wolves in Minneapolis final December — and erupted for 32 factors and 20 rebounds that evening — however he missed the Knicks’ solely sport in opposition to them on the Backyard final season with a sprained thumb.
“I’m a Knick, so I think about nothing else but this team,” Cities stated throughout his on-court interview after Monday evening’s win over the Washington Wizards.
“Happy to be here. Happy to be in front of these fans. Happy to be in the Garden, the Mecca. Can’t wait to go out there and compete again.”
Cities has additionally handled what he described as a Grade 2 quad pressure, however the 11-year NBA veteran is but to overlook a sport this season.
The quad pressure now not seems on the Knicks’ damage report.
Cities, who spent his first 9 seasons with the Wolves, entered Wednesday averaging 20.4 factors and 13.1 rebounds per sport by seven appearances.
ANT ALSO ACTIVE
Anthony Edwards returned forward of schedule — and simply in time to face the Knicks.
The Timberwolves celebrity was cleared for Wednesday’s sport after sitting out of the earlier 4 with a proper hamstring pressure.
Edwards, 24, suffered the damage on Oct. 26 and was initially anticipated to overlook not less than two weeks, however he beat that timeline by a couple of days.
Wednesday’s sport marked the Wolves’ solely journey to the Backyard this season, however head coach Chris Finch downplayed that being a consider Edwards’ earlier-than-anticipated return.
“Arena and stage aside, I think it’s more just [that] he’s itching to play,” Finch stated. “One thing we love about Ant, he plays. He’s played in 95 percent of the games in his career, I would imagine, and he wants to play, no matter where that is.”
Edwards had been cleared on Monday to renew on-court actions. The high-scoring guard went by a complete pregame exercise on the Backyard court docket greater than two hours earlier than Wednesday’s tip-off.
“They’re a good team regardless,” Brown stated. “We’re preparing like he’s gonna play, but it’s a really good team. Tim Connelly’s done a nice job putting the team together.”
Edwards entered Wednesday averaging 25.7 factors, 4 rebounds and two assists per sport by three appearances this season.
