Cam Reddish Injury: How is Knicks' Starter Feeling After 'Fun' Friday?
If there was an NBA edition of "Dirty Jobs," covering Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors' franchise face, would likely be the first episode.
It's a brutal, undesirable task, but someone has to do it.
The honor fell to Cam Reddish of the New York Knicks on Friday night, the third leg of the visitors' ongoing five-game road trip. While Curry put up a 24-point, 10-assist double-double in a 111-101 Golden State victory, it was certainly a far cry from the 50 tallies he had in a win over Phoenix two nights prior.
Primarily under Reddish's watch, Curry was 9-of-19 from the field and lost five turnovers. Like many on the aforementioned Discovery Channel series, Reddish was happy to refer to his Friday occupation as "fun."
"I was competing against the greatest ever, to be honest," Reddish said. "His conditioning is through the roof, to be able to run around like that and just shoot, and get to the rim and get fouled. I think if I can get my conditioning to a level like that over time, it won’t happen tomorrow, if I can get my conditioning to that, it will go a long way.”
The experience would perhaps leave anyone sore, but Reddish was a bit more dented than desired: the 23-year-old and second-year Knick left Friday's game with a sore groin, which cost him the entire fourth quarter. Curry had six points and two assists in that final frame, playing just over four minutes. as Golden State put the finishing touches on its win.
In the aftermath, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau labeled Reddish "day-to-day." There was no single incident that forced Reddish's departure, simply becoming gradually more painful as the game went on before he sat down for good.
The Knicks (8-8) will likely be cautious with Reddish, who previously underwent a core muscle procedure after his single season at Duke shortly before the Atlanta Hawks made him the 10th overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. Reddish has made himself a mainstay in the New York starting lineup, usurping Evan Fournier as the team's primary shooting guard. In addition to strong defensive performances, Reddish has averaged 16.5 points on 53 percent shooting over the last four games.
At the very least, Knicks fans can rest assured that Reddish feels like the current injury is nothing compared to the one he endured in Durham.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I just know my groin is sore right now," he said. “I couldn’t walk when I tore it (in 2019). I’m all good now.”
The Knicks will thus have a major decision to make when it comes to Sunday's visit to Phoenix (3:30 p.m. ET, MSG). If Reddish can't go, that would potentially open the door for Fournier and/or Quentin Grimes to re-enter what's become a nine-man rotation. Neither partook in the first two stops on the trip, victorious visits to Utah and Denver, before playing the final minutes of the loss to the Warriors when Thibodeau emptied the bench.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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