Pregame: It's time for the Knicks to go

Hey! The Knicks play in Toronto at 7 and I'll have a thread up for that in a couple hours. In the meantime, I ask: what do you want out of this game? I know what I want. I want the Knicks to lose, and I want the Hawks to beat the Nets so the Knicks will be officially eliminated from the playoffs (also because lol Hawks beat the Nets).

I have, at times prior, felt that I'd rather the Knicks just lose and fall out of contention, but those moments of counter-fandom came from a selfish place, a place of wincing at the Knicks' performance and dreading the possibility of it getting further exposed in the playoffs.

Now I want the Knicks to lose because I think it would be best for them. More specifically, I think it would be best for Carmelo Anthony. The things I've been reading today-- besides Mike Woodson dribbling bullshit and more chattiness from Steve Mills-- are about Melo and his vaguely defined right shoulder injury, and they lead me to believe he ought to stop playing basketball as soon as possible. Chris Herring wrote a whole article about how the Knicks might be eschewing further testing on the shoulder, or at least hiding the results, because they want to ignore whatever's going on in there. He didn't have to. Melo, who will play tonight in Toronto, addressed that stuff himself:

Carmelo Anthony said he hasn't had any additional tests on his right shoulder because no matter what they tell him he's not sitting out.

— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) April 11, 2014

Melo was asked if the Knicks are out if he'll sit out: "Until the numbers say we’re eliminated, I’m not going to sit out."

— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) April 11, 2014

From James Herbert:

"At this point, what is the test gonna do?" Anthony said. "If they say something's really bad with it, I'm still not going to sit out, so I'd rather just wait until it's all over with."
New York head coach Mike Woodson said he was not worried about Anthony saying he'd play no matter what.

"Melo's a competitor, he's a true pro and I wouldn't expect anything less," Woodson said. "I know he's gonna play."

There's a good chance nothing is wrong on a long-term scale-- Melo's questionably managed shoulder thing last year worked out okay in the long run, even if it hampered his playoff performance-- but fuuuuuuuuuck this forever. The Knicks' minuscule chance of a playoff berth (followed by a probable swift exit) is buried under too many layers of "if"s for Anthony to be trifling with a bum shooting shoulder. And that's before you get to the part where Melo's shot 9-31 in the games since the initial injury and he probably won't help the Knicks make the playoffs even if that were a good idea.

Melo ought to sit, and if Melo's not going to sit, then I can't wait until he has no reason not to. This is dumb.