NEW YORK — Rasheed Wallace hasn’t played since Dec. 13 with a fractured foot, but he was dribbling and shooting on the Madison Square Garden court Sunday afternoon and could make his return before or during the playoffs.
“I think anything from 10-15 minutes, Rasheed being on the floor would be a positive for our ballclub,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said before the team clinched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 90-80 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden.
Woodson said Wallace has been running the past few days and will be reevaluated Monday.
The Knicks visit Charlotte Monday and host Atlanta Wednesday in the regular-season finale.
“It all depends on how he comes out of today’s workout, see how he feels tomorrow,” Woodson said.
Wallace, 38, averaged 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds and helped spread the floor during the Knicks 18-5 start to the season.
Woodson has long stood by Wallace, even as he was in a walking boot, and said he hoped he would be able to return for the playoffs. The Knicks opted to release Kurt Thomas, 40, when he got injured, but to hold on to Wallace.
Now his addition for a postseason series with the Celtics seems like a real possibility.
“If not [Wednesday], for sure the playoffs,” Woodson said.
Meantime, centers Tyson Chandler (bulging disc) and Kenyon Martin (sore left knee) won’t play Sunday and won’t travel to Charlotte.
But Woodson said both would be ready for the postseason.
“Yes,” he said, “they will be there.”
As for Marcus Camby (left plantar fasciitis), Woodson called him “day-to-day,” but said “I think he’ll be ready [for the playoffs], too.”
The Knicks would also love to get Amar’e Stoudemire (right knee debridement) back for the postseason, and while no timetable was given on his return, Stoudemire sounds like a man anxious to play.
“We had a great last second half of the season stretch right there taking it on into the postseason so we’re looking pretty good,” he said Saturday night at the Jordan Brand Classic at Barclays Center.
Former Knicks and current Pacers President Donnie Walsh said when he gave Stoudemire a five-year deal worth $100 million in the summer of 2010, he wasn’t sure he would last all five years because of his history of knee troubles.
“I think when you do a deal like that, you’re aware that the guy might not make it,” Walsh said. “After I met him, though, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t make it because I know he’ll do everything he can to get out on the court. I’ve watched him and he’s special that way.”
Walsh said he believes Stoudemire can make it back for the playoffs “because I’ve never seen a guy day in and day out work on his body like Amar’e does. So I hope he gets back, that’ll just make them.”
Photo: NY Post
