It had nothing to do with Marcus Camby’s sore left knee, but Jeff Van Gundy benched Camby in favor of center Chris Dudley as the first defender to Miami’s Alonzo Mourning last night at the Garden.
Van Gundy wants to keep the hobbled Camby out of foul trouble and perhaps ignite a bench that has been well below par. Camby had started all seven games in the pivot. But after committing two fouls in the first six minutes Friday in Boston, he came out and never returned because of what is vaguely being termed as tendinitis.
“It’s not necessarily a better matchup,” Van Gundy said of Dudley-Mourning. “Whoever plays Mourning is going to get fouls. He’s just very good at drawing fouls. We really can’t afford Marcus in early foul trouble if he plays.”
Camby played, although his knee still aches. Camby, who hasn’t had an MRI, says it’s a combination of tendinitis and a bone bruise. “It’s so-so,” said Camby. “But I’m not missing this one.”
Camby, averaging 13.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks, said if it was any other team other than Miami, he would’ve rested the knee.”They left it up to me,” said Camby, whose been the Knicks’ most consistent performer. “They said if I didn’t play, they’d understand. But I want to play. There’s definitely going to be some pain and discomfort.”
Dudley, meanwhile, is off to a slow start, partly because he missed the first three weeks of training camp with a sprained knee and hasn’t gotten enough minutes to get in any kind of rhythm.
“When that happens, it’s tough to just jump in,” said Dudley, averaging 8.6 minutes per game. “One thing I’ve learned, it’s a long season and just be ready. Things go up, things go down. We’re only seven games in, so I haven’t dwelt on it too much.
“I know what he wants out of me as far as the minutes,” Dudley added. “As he said to me, he’s just getting a feel for the team. It kind of goes up and down. I don’t think anything’s set in stone.”
At least Dudley has played considerably more than free agent pickup, 270-pound center Andrew Lang, who had played in just one game – six minutes during which he picked up four fouls. Van Gundy said Lang could see time on Mourning, too.
With the Knicks shooting awfully out of the double team, Lang also could help the Knicks because he has a sweet little jumper, something Dudley does not provide.
“I was happy we were still able to rebound when we’ve played smaller,” Van Gundy said. “But the smaller we’ve gotten recently, we haven’t defended the post or rebounded. We have to go back to playing bigger, defensive guys.”
The Knicks’ bench has been a big disappointment in rarely supplying a spark. But Van Gundy didn’t say this could be a sign of things to come, trying to get Camby into a sixth-man’s role, sort of like last season.
“Our bench is capable but they aren’t playing up to their capabilities,” Van Gundy said.
Camby, who wore a brace during the morning shootaround but didn’t like it, said Van Gundy approached him to tell him about the benching.
“I really can’t hold nothing back, especially this game,” Camby said. “I hope to provide the energy we need. I just want ot win. I was fine with it [coming off the bench]. Whatever it takes to win. As along as I play. I don’t want to sit 48 minutes.”
Van Gundy is still hoping the Knicks find a way to combat opponent’s double teams by hitting their open shots that it creates. “They’ve got to keep shooting and have confidence,” Van Gundy said.
“Other than Allan [Houston], Marcus Camby and Kurt [Thomas], nobody’s shooting well. Teams are trying to take the ball out of the hands of Allan and Latrell and are disregarding some of our players.”
The Knicks two point guards, Charlie Ward and Chris Childs, continue to slump from the field. Ward is hitting at 30.4 percent, Childs 36.8 percent. And after a fast start, Sprewell is shooting just 38.2 percent.
