Injury and Recovery Updates: J.R., Pablo, Shump

Good morning, friends. Buried under the avalanche of post-loss despair last night were a few bits of information regarding some Knicks dealing with injuries. First of all (and I hope I avoided scaring anybody with the headline. I do that sometimes.), Iman Shumpert didn't play great, but his knee felt fine after twenty minutes of playing time. Expect his minutes to increase in increments of five going forward.

So, that's the good news. The less good-- though not quite bad, at least not yet-- news is that a couple Knicks limped off the floor last night. Pablo Prigioni had his night cut short when nobody warned him of a crushing Kris Humphries screen (Humphries literally yelled "CRUSHED IT" afterward, I bet) and he stubbed his left big toe in the collision. Here's the post-game update from Marc Berman:

Knicks point guard Pablo Prigioni played just 52 seconds of the second half before injuring his left toe in a collision. He didn’t return for the fourth quarter. Prigioni said the medical staff manually tested the toe and did not feel it was broken. Prigioni said the staff called it "a contusion.’’

Sources tell me the Knicks' "manual test" is: 1. Ask the toe if it feels okay. 2. Step on it with the heel of a boot. 3. Ask if it still feels okay. If yes: contusion. If no: contusion. If no response because it is a toe: contusion. But seriously, the Knicks call every uncertain injury a contusion. I imagine we'll get an update on Pablo Prigi-toe-ni before Thursday's game. Even in the absence of a fracture, a swollen big toe could really hamper him.

J.R. Smith looked to be ailing at one point, too, though he played through it. His explanation:

In other injury news, at one point during the game, Smith took a hard fall and it took him a few seconds to get up. He's actually been having a season-long foot issue.

"I just stepped wrong," he said. "I've been having trouble with my Achilles all season, so I just made the wrong plant on it."

That's no good, but I guess the fact that we're just hearing about a season-long Achilles issue speaks to J.R.'s durability. The man is a trooper. I wish he'd snap out of this little slump, but I appreciate his presence nonetheless.

(Oh, and since I'm sure someone's gonna ask: Nothing on Sheed, nothing on Camby, still hoping for Raymond Felton by the weekend.)

Update: Pablo is missing practice today with a bruised left big toe.