"My God ... it's going to be awful," TNT's Charles Barkley's first analysis of New York Knicks game against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, per Newsday, seemed to be spot on.

He was referring to a game at United Center where superstars Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose were absent from the action; a game that Anthony had to sit out because of a recurring sore knee that has been worrying the NBA universe. The Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 97-103.

"Anthony's troublesome left knee is sore. He said he wants to try to play through the pain, but he needed last night off," said Newsday, noting that no one in the Knicks has detailed what was happening to Anthony — even as there was already talk about possible surgery and the central figure had also missed a game last week.

Amar'e Stoudemire had to fill in that leadership void Anthony left, even as he himself was originally scheduled to rest, the New York Post said.

"I've had multiple people say just shut it down or just take time off,'' Anthony revealed, as quoted by Newsday, ESPN Go, and the New York Post — That could be the most widely quoted sentence from Anthony on the issue. "At the end of the day, it's hard for me to just do that right now amidst what's happening with the team. So I'm just trying to be smart about it.''

ESPN Go reported that the pain carried over from a match they lost against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday, during which Anthony was lacking bounce.

The New York Post is pointing to a possibility that Anthony might be nursing a damaged cartilage, noting that he seemed to lack energy and even figured in a substitution of the whole starting lineup six minutes into the first quarter of the match, 107-87.

"Some days I feel like I can go and have everything ... It was a little sore in the first half. I didn't have lift on my shot," he admitted, per the New York Post's article. "It's going to be off and on. It gets frustrating not knowing what's going to happen with your body, taking it as the days come.''

"It gets frustrating ... Not knowing what's going to happen kind of with your body. So for me it's just taking it as the days come," Anthony said, although he also claimed that while rest would improve his physical state, playing would not worsen his issue, per ESPN Go.

"[The rest] wouldn't be the worst idea in the world," said Pro Basketball Talk, however. "A quarter of the way through the season, they're already all but out of the playoff race."