KP’S DAY-TO-DAY!
Zinger, after ankle scare, may play Sunday against Magic:
The Knicks should be counting their lucky stars that medical tests of Kristaps Porzingis’ ankle revealed no significant damage. The diagnosis “day-to-day” never sounded so good.
And with the Knicks off until Sunday afternoon against the Orlando Magic, Porzingis has three full days to rest and recover without having to miss a single game. Minimal damage indeed.
“They call me the lizard because I recover so quickly from things,” Porzingis said late Wednesday while conveniently forgetting that he’s already missed two games this season due to elbow and back pain respectively. Never let the facts stand in the way of a good quote.
The Knicks lost both games Porzingis missed — at Atlanta and at Houston — and despite crushing the Miami Heat without Porzingis for the final 45 minutes it’s safe to assume that if Porzingis were to be sidelined for any extended period of time Jeff Hornacek’s team would be in big trouble. The 22-yearold entered Wednesday ranked fourth in the NBA in scoring average (27.0) and first in blocks per game (2.2). He is on the fast track to make the All Star team for the first time.
Prior to this season, the Knicks’ two-year record without Porzingis is 9-17. And that’s with Carmelo Anthony on the team. Porzingis missed 10 games as a rookie, 16 last year and if that trend were to continue the Knicks playoff chances will be greatly compromised.
The question is whether the Knicks’ front office would rather be the eighth seed or end up in the lottery and use their first round pick on a player who can possibly accelerate the rebuild.
The team will provide that answer once the schedule balances out. With the Grammy Awards coming to Madison Square Garden, the Knicks schedule has been front loaded with home dates. The Knicks have played 14 home games while four of the teams ahead of them in the
Courtney Lee’s offensive numbers are up across the board this season, and he believes it shouldn’t take a mathematics wizard — or a Zen Master — to understand why.
“I’m going to say it point blank and clear: we’re not running the triangle,” Lee said after scoring 17 points in Wednesday’s blowout win over Miami. “We’re running a different offense that’s more fastpaced and it’s more suitable for my style of play.”
Lee was signed by then-president Phil Jackson before last season to a four-year deal worth $50 Eastern Conference have played 10. Boston and Cleveland have played 11 home games while Milwaukee has played nine and Toronto eight.
We’ll know a lot more about the Knicks in January and February. In the meantime, Porzingis and the Knicks will monitor when and where to take a game off or two for “body maintenance,” which is all the rage in million, averaging 10.8 points in 32 minutes per game over 77 appearances. He is up to a careerbest 12.6-point scoring average through the Knicks’ 11-10 start, while posting 10-year highs in rebounds (3.8 per game) and assists (3.0), as well.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t a fan of the triangle. The triangle is just — my game suits the triangle also, but you slow it down a little bit,” Lee explained. “You make passes, you get it to the pinch-post, and then you play off that, but the offense now is to just get up and down. First open look, take it and just try to make the right play . ... I’m just trying to do my job and have fun with it.” the NBA much to the chagrin of fans and the league office.
The Spurs do it. The Warriors do it. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade do it. Same with Joel Embiid and countless other players. Porzingis appears to be on a similar plan.
Through 21 games — just over one-quarter of the regular season — the Knicks have had three sets of back-to-backs. Porzingis sat the second game of the backto-backs twice. The injuries were legitimate but the schedule also made the decision to rest easier for the third-year forward.
Having missed a total of 26 games over the first two seasons,
Lee’s importance to the team could have been marginalized when the Knicks signed fellow shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. to a four-year contract worth $71 million over the summer. But with Carmelo Anthony traded, Lee and Hardaway have started each of the first 21 games.
“I kind of knew that over the summer time before ya’ll knew it. I kind of just kept that in,” Lee said. “Early on they told me, right when they made the move, I got a phone call from (president) Steve (Mills), Coach (Jeff Hornacek), everybody, saying your role doesn’t change. We need you to be more aggressive on both ends of the court and just play your game.” Porzingis is willing to sacrifice sitting out one game if it means staying healthy for the long term. It’s a philosophy shared by many teams and players.
But that still won’t prevent moments like Wednesday when all of New York held its collective breath after witnessing Porzingis’ ankle bend at an impossible angle. Porzingis was injured three minutes in when he chased down a loose ball and had Justise Winslow step on his right foot.
That’s an instinctive hustle play. It has nothing to do with wear and tear. And considering that Porzingis is a freak of nature — a 7-foot-3 forward who can play effectively on the perimeter — it’s safe to assume he’ll be involved in similar plays.
He’s not Tim Duncan, a player who couldn’t jump over the phone book and wasn’t running the floor like a Greyhound. Porzingis is a unique talent. He’s going to make plays that humans of his size shouldn’t be making. It’s what makes him special but it also leads to moments like Wednesday.
Porzingis is never going to be an 82-game regular season player. Most of today’s players aren’t. But if the Knicks want to be a playoff team this season, Porzingis needs to suit up for 72 to 75 games. That’s why Thursday was such a good day for the Knicks. “Negative” and “day-today” have a special ring.