No Kan do on court, but Enes shows fight

Enes Kanter was held out of his third straight game on Monday night with back spasms. But from the bench, the idled center offered some advice for his Knick teammates as they attempted – but failed — to come back from another sizable deficit, ultimately falling short in a 103-91 loss to Portland at the Garden.

“I’m not going to tell who, but I told somebody, ‘Hey man, go out there and fight with somebody. It will get the energy up,’” Kanter said after the game. “No, I’m serious. (I said), ‘If you go out there and just hit somebody or just fight with somebody, get a technical foul, I will pay for the fine, I don’t care. Just go out there and do your thing.’

“Because we need that energy, we need that fight. It doesn’t matter if we’re down by 25, a fight, get a technical foul, the crowd is in it, and they’re gonna get nervous … I told two guys just go fight. It was good.”

Knicks reserves Michael Beasley and rookie Frank Ntilikina, both received technical fouls during a post-whistle scuffle with Portland big man Jusuf Nurkic after the Knicks had sliced a 26-point hole to 12 midway through the final quarter.

Damian Lillard sank the two technical free throws and the Knicks never got closer than eight points thereafter.

“I didn’t see really what happened. Unfortunately for us, we had cut it to (12) and that turned into a three or four-point play,” Jeff Hornacek said. “At least the guys were playing hard and trying to get after it.” following the season-opening carryover of his 20-game PED suspension and seven straight inactive games since his reinstatement.

The $72 million former All-Star drew applause from the MSG crowd when he entered the game with 7:04 left in the second quarter. Noah recorded a blocked shot, a defensive rebound and scored two points in his lone three-minute stint off the bench.

“Oh my God, it’s been so long. Just to be out on the court is just special,” Noah said. “I just wish we played better tonight. But obviously playing in the Garden is always something I’ll never take for granted.”