Carmelo Anthony has insisted that he has not been saving himself for this weekend's All-Star game by admitting that he has played through his knee injury when he should have been resting.
The New York Knicks forward is expected to undergo knee surgery at some point in the future, but will play at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Following suggestions that he had missed games with the Knicks in order to be ready for this game, Anthony told reporters at a press conference: "I've played when I wasn't supposed to play, so for people to say that is, that's absurd.
"I've played through this [injury] since the second game of the season, since the first game of the season. So for somebody to say I was waiting for this moment, yeah, I was waiting for the moment. All-Star weekend was here in New York so of course, I was waiting for this moment. [But] I played when I wasn't supposed to play.
"When people were telling me to sit out, I was fighting against them and still going out there and playing. It was almost a point in the last couple of days where I wasn't going to participate in All-Star weekend. At the end of the day, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation because if I would have said I'm not participating, I'd have gotten backlash about it. I'm saying I am participating. I get backlash. I'm happy. I'm here participating. It's here in New York. The fans voted me in and I'm going to play in the game."
It has been reported that, with the Knicks sitting bottom in the Eastern Conference, Anthony could skip the rest of the season after Sunday's game to have his knee repaired.
Sian Cowper
