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MIAMI – This was before the Knicks routed Charlotte Wednesday night at Spectrum Center.
Derrick Rose furiously peddled on the stationary bike in a hallway near the Knicks’ visiting locker room, sweat dropping profusely.
Next to Rose, Julius Randle performed stretching exercises for his sore quadriceps, about to miss his second straight game.
Rose was about to sit out his 44th straight game. But both players are trying to get back to playing before April 10’s finale.
At Friday’s morning shootaround before the Knick faced the first-place Heat, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose has made the next step. Even with just eight games to go after Miami, Rose isn’t shutting it down. The former MVP joined the club for the morning shootaround and shot jumpers for 10 minutes afterward.
“He did some in practice today,’’ Thibodeau said. “He’s in the next phase right now. He still hasn’t taken contact.’’
With the Knicks all but out of postseason contention, Thibodeau said it’s still important for veteran players to return and add leadership. It’s also a good thing to know Rose can still be counted on to a least be a backup point guard next season after his grave ankle woes.
Rose, 33, has two years and $30 million left on his contract, though the final year is non-guaranteed.
The Miami game was the 45th straight game Rose would miss. That in a nutshell is a central cause from the team’s fade from 41-31 to their current clip of 11 games below .500 at 31-42.
Rose wasn’t made available to the media after Friday’s morning shootaround. He last spoke on Jan. 30th to reveal that his first surgery removed a bone spur from his right ankle. He previously had a bone spur removed from his left ankle in 2017.
Rose’s second procedure occurred Feb. 25th just after the All-Star break on the verge of his return. The procedure dealt with an ankle infection related to the original surgery. At the time, ESPN reported that there was “optimism he can rejoin the lineup in one to two weeks.’’
In a video made in a moving vehicle after the second procedure, Rose hinted he’s not done with 2021-22, saying “Motherf–ker’s think it’s sweet. ‘Ah man you’re having surgery again. You probably think about calling it a wrap.’ Ha ha, jokes on you.”
Rose and Taj Gibson were teammates in Chicago and Minnesota with Jimmy Butler, whose bench dustup earlier this week in Miami with coach Erik Spoelstra and Udonis Haslem caused a national commotion.
“That’s normal when it comes to championship style basketball,’’ Gibson said. “Not everybody’s going to have a cool head all season. You’re going to have little outbreaks along the way. That’s just a test of camaraderie and it’s a test of how you can come back…You’ve got to think, we do see each other more than we see our families. So we’re going to have hot heads sometimes.’’
Randle is listed as a game-time decision.
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