In a lost season for the New York Knicks, it was announced on Tuesday that starting shooting guard Courtney Lee would be absent for tonight's game against the streaking Portland Trail Blazers. According to a tweet tonight from Knicks beat reporter Ian Begley of ESPN, Lee will not even be with the team tonight due to a personal matter.
“Knicks say that Courtney Lee will not be with the team for tonight's game at Portland due to personal reasons,” Begley said on Tuesday afternoon.
The reason as to exactly why Lee is away from the team right now is up in the air, so it's unclear if Lee will even make his return in a timely manner for Friday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In Lee's absence on Tuesday night, one should look for the Knicks' Tim Hardaway to get even more minutes and flexibility in head coach Jeff Hornacek's lineup tonight. This should open even more opportunities for forwards Lance Thomas and Troy Williams, with guards Frank Ntilikina and Trey Burke getting more exposure at the wing.
In 64 games this season for the Knicks, Lee has managed to average 12.7 points on 44.9 percent shooting, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game in roughly 31.5 minutes of action per contest.
While Lee's absence tonight hurts the team's chances of winning this particular game, everyone knows the propensity of teams that are in similar position as the Knicks to, for lack of a better term, tank — no matter how hard they cover it up.
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