Left short-handed by a rash of frontcourt injuries, the Knicks are suddenly counting on Martin more than they ever imagined. Best of all, he’s coming up big.

Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, Martin had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 99-94 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

“He means a lot to this team right now,” Anthony said of Martin, his one-time Denver teammate. “We need him coming down the stretch.”

Making his fifth straight start, Martin connected on his first nine field goal attempts, not missing until 1:40 remained in the fourth quarter.

“He stepped up big time,” New York coach Mike Woodson said. “He scored for us, he rebounded, had a few blocks. He did a little bit of everything.”

Veteran guard Jason Kidd, who once played with Martin in New Jersey, said the 35-year-old has been an invaluable addition following injuries to big men Amar’e Stoudemire (right knee), Tyson Chandler (neck), Kurt Thomas (right foot) and Rasheed Wallace (left foot).

“He’s a true professional,” Kidd said. “If we didn’t have him we would be in trouble right now. He’s playing big on both ends.”

Out of basketball before the Knicks came calling, Martin said he considers himself “blessed” to be back on the court and playing for a contender.

“I just tried to stay ready,” he said. “An opportunity came for me to come out and play. It’s unfortunate that it’s because of injury, but I’ll take it.”

J.R. Smith scored 14 points as the Knicks earned their 41st win. That guaranteed they’ll reach the playoffs for the third straight season, something they hadn’t done since a 14-year streak of postseason appearances from 1988 to 2001.

With 15 games left and playoff seeding still undecided, Woodson doesn’t want his team easing up.

“We can’t have any slippage, no matter who we play, because Brooklyn is not going anywhere and Boston is not going anywhere,” Woodson said.

The league’s second-leading scorer, Anthony has 57 total points in his past two games after missing six of the previous eight with a sore right knee. His 43 minutes were about 10 more than Woodson had hoped he’d play, but Anthony wasn’t complaining.

“I’ll take on that challenge, I love that challenge, I want that challenge,” he said. “I wanted to see what I could do, especially being out and not playing the way I know how to play.”

The defeat was a double blow for Toronto, which lost for the 11th time in 15 games and saw forward Rudy Gay leave in the second with a sore back. Gay did not return, and his status for Saturday night’s rematch in New York was not known.

Alan Anderson scored a career-high 35 points, DeMar DeRozan had 18 and Jonas Valanciunas 10 as the Raptors lost their third straight. Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 10 assists.

Down by 14 points midway through the third, the Raptors rallied to make a game of it in the fourth. A three-point play by DeRozan cut it to 84-82 with 6:17 left, but Anthony answered with a three-point play of his own, keying a 10-2 run that put the Knicks up 94-84 with 4:00 remaining.

A putback dunk by Terrence Ross cut it to 97-92 with 39 seconds left and, after Smith missed a pair of free throws, Anderson made two from the line, making it 97-94.

Anthony was fouled and made the first but missed the second, giving the Knicks a four-point edge. Jason Kidd grabbed the rebound when Ross’s 3-point heave came up short, and capped it by making one of two from the line.

Chandler (neck) did not travel with the team, remaining in New York for treatment. Woodson said he doesn’t know when Chandler, who last played March 13, will be cleared to return. The Knicks had earlier said they expected Chandler to miss about a week.

Raymond Felton’s banked 3 gave the Knicks a 25-15 lead with two minutes left in the first but Anderson scored five straight points as the Raptors cut it to 25-22 after one.

Gay headed to the locker room with a sore back at 7:04 of the second and the Knicks pulled away. Anthony and Kidd each scored six as New York outscored Toronto 25-15 to open a 50-37 lead at the half. The Raptors made five of 20 field goal attempts in the quarter.

“We just had a lot of open misses,” Anderson said. “We weren’t swinging the ball from side to side like we did in the previous two games against them.”

Anderson matched a Raptors record with 20 points in the third and Toronto made five of nine from 3-point range, but a turnaround, buzzer-beating 3 by Anthony gave the Knicks a 77-71 lead heading into the fourth.

Game notes

Stoudemire, Thomas and Wallace also skipped the trip to Toronto. … Iman Shumpert started for the New York after sitting out the second half of Wednesday’s win over Orlando with a sore left knee. … Mike James was the last Toronto player to score 20 in a quarter, doing it in the fourth against Detroit on Apr. 14, 2006. … Woodson expressed his sadness at the death of former Knicks captain Ray Williams, who died Friday at the age of 58. “It’s a major loss,” Woodson said. “He’s a part of our Knicks family.” … Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. attended the game.

The post Carmelo Anthony scores 37 as Knicks clinch playoff berth appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Canucks said Wednesday that Kesler will be out for up to six weeks because of a broken right foot. The fracture was revealed on a CT scan.

It is unclear when the injury occurred, but coach Alain Vigneault said Kesler might have been playing with it before it was diagnosed. Kesler played more than 19 minutes against Phoenix on Tuesday and earned an assist.

Kesler didn’t practice on Wednesday and was seen wearing an air cast. He returned to action two weeks ago after taking longer to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. He had a goal and four assists in seven games before being injured again.

Kesler has 154 goals and 188 assists in 568 NHL career games, all with the Canucks.

The post Ryan Kesler out up to 6 weeks appeared first on IdealCapper.

Howard has missed the past three games because of a torn labrum in his shoulder, aggravating an injury he initially suffered earlier this season.

Despite winning the three games Howard has missed, the Lakers (23-26) are 10th in the Western Conference playoff race. They also will be without star forward Pau Gasol, who has a tear in the plantar fascia of his right foot, an MRI revealed Wednesday. The Lakers fear Gasol could be sidelined four to six weeks, a source told ESPNLosAngeles.com.

“We don’t have time for (Howard’s shoulder) to heal,” Bryant said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan. “We need some urgency.”

The interview with MacMullan came one day after Bryant publicly challenged Howard, stating that playing through an injury is “something that you have to balance out and manage.”

Bryant also asserted that Howard is preoccupied with how he is perceived by fans and media.

“Dwight worries too much about what people think,” Bryant told MacMullan. “I told him, ‘You can’t worry about that. It’s holding you back.’ He says, ‘OK, OK, OK,’ but it’s always hovering around him.

“He just wants people to like him. He doesn’t want to let anyone down, and that gets him away from what he should be doing.”

Bryant also speculated that Howard, in his first season with Los Angeles, may not be accustomed to the Lakers’ standards.

“(Howard) has never been in a position where someone is driving him as hard as I am, as hard as this organization is,” Bryant told MacMullan. “It’s win a championship or everything is a complete failure. That’s just how (the Lakers) do it. And that’s foreign to him.

“When you think about it, there aren’t many organizations that look at it that way. There are only two that can really honestly say that’s what they live by — Los Angeles and Boston.”

Howard preached patience in a recent interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, pointing to the fact that Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal needed three years before winning a championship with the Lakers.

But the 34-year-old Bryant, who is averaging 27.6 points per game in his 17th NBA season, is approaching this season with more desperation.

“We don’t have three years,” Kobe said. “We’ve got this year.”

Howard is listed as day to day, and his status is uncertain for Thursday’s game against the Boston Celtics.

The Lakers are hopeful Gasol’s injury will prompt Howard to return “sooner than later,” a team source told ESPNLosAngeles.com.

The post Kobe Bryant urges Dwight Howard appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Lakers did not say how long Gasol will be out, but a league source told ESPNLosAngeles.com that an accurate time frame for his return is difficult to assess without further examination, which Gasol will receive when he returns to Los Angeles. The Lakers, though, are bracing for him to be out at least four to six weeks, the source said.

The Lakers are not sure whether Gasol will need surgery, sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com.

“The result of the MRI shows I have a torn fascia of my right foot,” Gasol tweeted. “Tomorrow I’ll fly back to LA to see our team doctors. #AlwaysPositive”

Gasol also tweeted that’s he’s “hoping to recover asap so I can be back with the team and keep fighting until the end of the season. #GoLakers #AlwaysPositive”

Gasol was injured in Tuesday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets.

“I tweaked my fascia in the first half, so I was dealing with quite a bit of soreness in the second half,” Gasol said after the game. “So I couldn’t do certain things.

“I was dealing with it, but that play when I tried to jump off of it and try go block the shot (by Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez), just as I took off, I felt a pop in the bottom of my foot on my fascia and I couldn’t get up. I’m worried about it.”

The Lakers, in Boston to play the Celtics on Thursday, said Gasol will fly back to Los Angeles on Thursday to be examined by the team’s medical staff.

Gasol initially tried to play through the injury that occured with 3:50 left in Tuesday’s game. But after one trip up and down the floor, he asked coach Mike D’Antoni for a sub and went to the locker room with Lakers trainer Gary Vitti.

“It felt kind of OK a little bit putting my weight on it without walking or running, but once I started running, I was limping and it was really sore,” Gasol said Tuesday. “Even if I tried, I couldn’t go.”

Gasol finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the Lakers’ 92-83 win.

The Lakers were granted a disabled player’s exception for Jordan Hill last week after the backup center went out with season-ending hip surgery. The exception will allow the Lakers to spend a little more than half of Hill’s salary, about $1.78 million, in order to sign a free agent or to absorb a player’s contract acquired in a trade.

Despite Gasol’s foot injury, the Lakers are not dead set on using the exception, a team source told ESPNLosAngeles.com, and they are hopeful the situation will prompt Dwight Howard to return and play through his sore right shoulder “sooner than later.”

The Lakers have won three straight after starting off their seven-game road trip with a loss to Phoenix, and six of seven overall. But they will face an uphill battle to finish off the trip without Gasol and potentially Howard. Gasol already has missed 13 games this season because of tendinitis in both knees and a concussion.

“We’ll see what happens,” D’Antoni told the “Mason & Ireland Show” on ESPNLA 710 radio on Wednesday. “Hopefully, Dwight will be back fairly soon, but you approach it like any other game. Guys got to step up.

“We’ll play with Robert Sacre. We’ll play smaller most of the time. We’ll have Metta (World Peace) back [from a one-game suspension]. So, we still have enough pieces to win games. That’s what we have to do.

“We just got to keep winning and give us a chance to get into the playoffs, then hopefully, we’ll have everybody healthy at that point. But all these games are going to be attacked like they’re playoff games and whoever is available is going to have to play well.”

The post Pau Gasol has tear in plantar fascia appeared first on IdealCapper.

“I want to play,” Howard said after participating in shootaround in advance of the Los Angeles Lakers games against the Boston Celtics on Thursday. “I mean, why wouldn’t I want to play? But, at the same time, this is my career, this is my future, this is my life. I can’t leave that up to anybody else because nobody else is going to take care of me. So, if people are pissed off that I don’t play or if I do play, whatever it may be, so what? This is my career. If I go down, then what? Everybody’s life is going to go on. I don’t want to have another summer where I’m rehabbing and trying to get healthy again. I want to come back and have another great year. That’s what I want to do.”

Howard is considered a game-time decision after missing the last three games with a sore right shoulder from aggravating his torn labrum in the Lakers’ 92-86 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the start of their current seven-game road trip.

Kobe Bryant publicly challenged Howard to return, telling ESPNBoston.com’s Jackie MacMullan on Wednesday, “We don’t have time for (Howard’s shoulder) to heal … We need some urgency.”

Howard dismissed Bryant’s stance.

“That’s his opinion, that’s it,” Howard said. “He’s not a doctor, I’m not a doctor. That’s his opinion.”

Bryant said that his comments on Wednesday weren’t meant to turn up the pressure on Howard in light of the news that Pau Gasol has a torn plantar fascia in his right foot.

“There’s an urgency to be out there, but it’s not at the cost of making his shoulder worse,” Bryant said after shootaround. “I’ve always said if he was healthy enough to play and there was a situation where he wasn’t going to make it any worse then he should be playing. There should be an urgency about that, but I don’t think I said anything that was different (then he said before).”

Bryant wasn’t the only one of Howard’s teammates to clamor for the All-Star center’s return, however.

“I think everyone has got to play through some pain in this league and I’m not sure where Dwight exactly with his (injury), but hopefully he’s ready to come back soon,” Steve Nash said. “I think it’s inevitable he’s going to feel some discomfort and pain.”

Metta World Peace spoke up in support of Howard, citing how effective he has been while coming off offseason back surgery.

“He’s doing great and (he is) a great teammate,” World Peace said. “He’s out there, he had a couple 20-20 games and is averaging 18 and 11 or something like that playing hurt coming off that back surgery. I would say he’s a soldier and I’m not going to question his injury. He’s hurt to me. We have to go out there and we have to hold it down for him.”

Howard said that Gasol’s injury has not sped up his timeline to return and added that the way he feels he mishandled his back injury last season in Orlando is shaping how he deals with his shoulder this year.

“I don’t want that situation to happen again,” Howard said. “Last year I wanted to prove and show people that I can play through injuries, but the back is something serious and I don’t want that to happen again.”

Howard was asked if he could see his shoulder injury becoming worse if he gets back on the court.

“Yes, (with) the way I play,” Howard said. “The post is not an easy position. You’re pushing guys (who weigh) 260-270 (pounds) and you have to use a lot of force to do that. If play tonight, we’ll see how I feel later on. If I don’t, we’ll just have to move forward.”

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said that the Lakers will likely go with a small starting lineup of Earl Clark at center and World Peace and Antawn Jamison at the forward spots if Howard cannot play against the Celtics.

“If we just go out there and play team basketball, move bodies, help, hedge on screens, box out, sacrifice and at the end of the game it’s just going to be a team game and there’s five guys on the floor, so, I don’t think we have positions,” said World Peace, who could be asked to play some backup center along with rookie Robert Sacre. “Kobe could be switched off on the center. It’s just five guys playing basketball at this point.”

D’Antoni said the decision to whether to play or not ultimately rests with Howard.

“I think he’s cleared (by the medical staff), but he’s cleared (fully) when the pain goes away, so he tells us when the pain goes away,” D’Antoni said.

D’Antoni said he has not had any discussions with team management about adding another big man in the interim with Gasol flying back to L.A. on Thursday morning to meet with Lakers team doctors as well as a specialist, but he plans to meet with general manager Mitch Kupchak in Miami on Saturday to talk things over.

The post Dwight Howard fires back at critics appeared first on IdealCapper.

Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard were England’s scorers, either side of a fine equalizer from Fred at the start of the second half.

However, there were far more pluses for manager Roy Hodgson than a first victory over Brazil since 1990. Jack Wilshere was outstanding alongside Steven Gerrard in midfield, and was deservedly named man of the match, Joe Hart saved a penalty and Theo Walcott’s pace was a constant threat.

Brazil should have gone ahead when Wilshere blocked Oscar’s cross with his hand in the area but Hart produced a magnificent double save to repel both Ronaldinho’s penalty and the rebound before Neymar bundled the ball wide.

It was the first penalty save by an England keeper since 2004, so Hart deserved the luck he got when Neymar slid in at the far post to meet an Oscar cross from the other side which he somehow managed to scoop over from three yards.

Wilshere’s astute pass set Danny Welbeck up midway through the first half, only for the Manchester United man to fire wide with his right foot when the acute angle demanded an effort with his left.

And it was Wilshere who sliced Brazil apart with the pass that provided Walcott with the chance Julio Cesar saved, only for Rooney to calmly stroke home the rebound. Cesar denied Walcott with another fine stop before the end of as promising a half in a friendly as England have had for some time.

It was undeniably good from England – but it took them just two second-half minutes to undo all that positive work. Gary Cahill’s lack of control led to him losing possession in no-man’s land, the ball rolled to Fred on the edge of the area and with virtually his first touch after being introduced as a half-time substitute, he fired into the corner.

More shambolic defending, this time started by Chris Smalling, provided Fred with another chance which he clipped against the bar two minutes later. Yet England’s response was as impressive as their first-half display had been.

Cahill and Walcott were repelled by Cesar before Rooney nipped in to provide Lampard with an opportunity snaffled in sensational manner, taking him onto 27 England goals and once again raising question marks over Chelsea’s desire to off-load him. It was enough to seal a rare win over such glamorous opposition.

The post England nets 1st win vs. Brazil in 23 years appeared first on IdealCapper.

After releasing linebacker Michael Boley on Tuesday, the Giants cut their veteran starting running back and the versatile Canty as they try to create more cap space while also moving in a different direction following a 9-7 season that finished with no playoffs for the 2011 Super Bowl champs. The Giants could release more veterans before next month’s free agency period begins.

“I saw it coming because of the money,” Bradshaw told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “Everything is about money I guess, so yes I was expecting it. I’m not discouraged at all. I’m just looking towards getting healthy and working with somebody else. That is all I can do. The Giants fans will always be remembered and always be loved. This is where I started and I just want to thank everybody for their support. Hopefully I’ll be back soon.”

Bradshaw, 26, rushed for 1,015 yards and six touchdowns as the team’s primary running back. However, he has had a history of battling through feet and ankle injuries and recently had surgery to have a screw replaced in his right foot, keeping him out for another eight weeks. Bradshaw has missed 12 games in his six seasons with the Giants but helped them win two Super Bowls during his New York tenure.

The Giants were projected to be $4.7 million over the salary cap for 2013 by NFL senior writer John Clayton and the team has to create space to try to keep free agents like left tackle Will Beatty and restricted free agents like Victor Cruz, Stevie Brown and Andre Brown.

Bradshaw was uncertain about his future toward the end of the season. The Giants’ 2012 first-round pick David Wilson emerged toward the end of the season and Andre Brown scored eight touchdowns this past season before breaking his leg.

Canty was due to make $6.25 million in base salary this upcoming season. He played in just nine games this past season after having knee surgery in the offseason.

The post Giants release Ahmad Bradshaw appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Bulls already are without two starters in Kirk Hinrich (elbow) and Derrick Rose, who is still recovering from ACL surgery. The Bulls lost to the Brooklyn Nets minus those four players on Friday but came back on Saturday to beat the Hawks in Atlanta.

“I feel pretty good, but just give it a couple more days and try to go on Thursday [at Denver],” Noah said before Monday’s shootaround. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go tonight, but I’m just moving in the right direction and hopefully by Thursday I’ll be ready to go.”

Noah has missed the past two games with plantar fasciitis, the same injury he dealt with for most of the season three years ago. He believes he caught the injury much earlier this time.

“The one in [the 2009-10 season] I just kept playing through it,” Noah said. “I kept playing through it, I probably played with it for a month until I couldn’t anymore.

“This [time], I stopped a lot earlier. I probably played on it for maybe five, six games and I just knew what direction it was going in. In [2009-10], I just tried to act like it wasn’t there and just play through it and it was a mistake. I feel like with a couple more days of treatment I think I’ll be OK.”

That treatment includes rest — something Noah has tried to get plenty of over the last few days.

“Rest, ice, laser treatment,” he said. “I actually shot around [Sunday], but no jumping, no running, just resting really.”

Noah is confident that with some more treatment he can get rid of the problem for the rest of the year.

“I feel like you definitely learn from your experiences,” he said. “I’ve been through this before so I kind of know what to expect and I’ve gotten all the treatment for this before, and I’m hoping that a couple more days rest and I’ll be back at 100 percent and I won’t have to deal with this anymore.”

As for Boozer, he seems more confident he may be able to play Monday night. He has missed the past three games because of the hamstring injury that he originally suffered in the first quarter a week ago against the Bobcats.

“It will be a game-time [decision], but I feel good,” he said. “If it feels good, I’ll be out there.”

Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau officially termed both players as game-time decisions, but he also sounded more confident that Boozer would be able to play.

“He’s feeling better,” Thibodeau said of Boozer. “We’ll see where he is tonight. Each day he’s gotten better, he’s close.”

The post Joakim Noah likely out appeared first on IdealCapper.

Athletic director Fred Glass issued a statement Sunday saying the NCAA has cleared Hollowell of any potential infractions. On Friday, Glass said Hollowell and his family notified the school of a potential “compliance issue.” Glass says those details will be released later.

Glass thanked the NCAA for making a quick ruling and accepting Indiana’s self-reported secondary violation, which led to the immediate reinstatement of Hollowell.

Indiana can use another body after losing sophomore forward Austin Etherington for the season with a fractured left kneecap. Backup guard Maurice Creek also is out indefinitely with a right foot injury.

Hollowell is averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds for Indiana (12-1).

The post Indiana reinstates Jeremy Hollowell appeared first on IdealCapper.