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NEW YORK –– The last thing the Knicks needed heading into the playoffs was more injuries.
But they didn’t escape their season-ending 98-92 victory over the Atlanta Hawks without a few concerns.
Point guard Pablo Prigioni badly turned his right ankle on a drive in the first quarter and did not return, leaving the Knicks will just six healthy players.
Chris Copeland suffered a dislocated right shoulder but still finished the game and poured in a career-best 33 points.
And Iman Shumpert suffered cramps in his right thigh that led to him leaving the game with five minutes remaining.
“Iman was mainly cramps,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “Cope’s fine. He had a helluva game, he’ll sleep good on that. Pablo will be day-to-day.”
Considering the Knicks have already missed frontcourt players Tyson Chandler, Kenyon Martin, Marcus Camby and Amar’e Stoudemire for significant stretches of time — to say nothing of the losses of Kurt Thomas (waived) and Rasheed Wallace (retirement) — the possibility of new injuries on the eve of the playoffs is certainly cause for concern.
The Knicks will open the playoffs at 3 p.m. on Saturday against the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks are 16-2 with Prigioni in the starting lineup, and he plays a key role despite averaging just 3.5 points and 3.0 assists.
“Everybody has played so well for us at certain times and Pablo obviously has been one of those guys,” Steve Novak said. “To lose him and his energy and his defense and just his vision on the court would be huge.
“I don’t think that’s the case. Obviously I don’t know how bad his ankle is but it didn’t look like it extremely serious. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get back in the next couple days and feel 100 percent.”
On a night when he channeled NBA scoring champion Carmelo Anthony, Copeland suffered said his left shoulder “popped out” after he drove and collided with Anthony Tolliver.
Despite the injury, Copeland became the first Knick rookie since Bill Cartwright in 1980 to have back-to-back 30-point outings. He’s definitely making a case to be a part of the postseason rotation.
“I am fine,” he said. “It doesn’t feel great right now but I will be fine by Saturday.”
The same appears to go for Shumpert, who signaled to come out of the game after cramping up following a celebration of a James White dunk in the fourth quarter.
“I think I got excited when I came down,’ he said. “When ‘Flight’ caught the dunk, I get excited when my teammates do well.”
On Saturday, the Knicks will have a relatively full roster with the returns of Anthony, Raymond Felton, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and Tyson Chandler.
The challenge for Woodson then will be to integrate several players who have been out for a while with those who have been playing consistently.
The Knicks will do so against a Celtics team that swept them out of the playoffs two years ago in Anthony’s first season with the team.
The Celtics have aged since then and lost both Rajon Rondo (ACL) and Ray Allen (free agency), while the Knicks appear to have their best team a generation.
Their 54 wins marked the most they’ve piled up since the 1996-97 season.
“It is going to be a war,” Shumpert said of the Celtics series. “It is going to be a test. We have to win four games and keep moving.”
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Photo: Daily News
