Jose Calderon returned to a full practice Monday after missing the past three games with a strained right groin, improving the odds that the Knicks’ starting point guard could return to game action Tuesday night against the Celtics.
“I feel better. Every day it’s a little bit better,” Calderon said after Monday’s practice. “I was able to do more. I’ll see how I wake up [Tuesday] and see how things go from there… I’m gonna try and go a little bit harder at shootaround and see how it goes, but I feel better.
“It’s always tough when you’re not there and you’re not able to help your teammates, but you always got to think about long term, too. You don’t want to be back and pull something and be out for a month or something like that. Hopefully everything is good.”
Knicks coach Derek Fisher said it is “possible” that Calderon is back in the lineup Tuesday, but he previously believed the veteran would come back Thursday at Detroit.
“He went through a lot of what we did and we’ll see how he reacts from there,” Fisher said. “I guess [Tuesday’s] possible, but I think [on Sunday] we were thinking more Thursday.”
Calderon, who hadn’t missed a game this season before the Jan. 28 loss at Toronto, is averaging 4.1 assists (the lowest mark of his 11-year career) and 7.5 points (the lowest mark since his rookie season) while struggling defensively against younger, quicker guards, but the 34-year-old remains one of the Knicks’ biggest perimeter threats, barely trailing Lance Thomas for the team lead in 3-point shooting percentage (41.1).
Shooting guard Arron Afflalo, who went 2-for-12 in Sunday’s loss to Golden State and is shooting just 32 percent from the field in the past six games, was hopeful that Calderon’s return could help break him out of his slump.
Afflalo, in his first season with the Knicks, had shot nearly 47 percent from the field in his first 36 games.
“It’s just another shooter, another playmaker, a guy I’m able to play off of a little bit,” Afflalo said. “It definitely helps me.”