Hardaway waits for news on leg
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While Kristaps Porzingis missed his second straight game with a sore left knee Monday in the Knicks’ 109-91 loss to the Hornets, Tim Hardaway Jr. is bracing for news on his own timetable.
Hardaway Jr. will be reevaluated Tuesday for the stress injury in his left leg and find out how much longer he’ll be sidelined. Hardaway Jr. will likely undergo a bone scan. If he has a stress reaction, the test will show if inflammation in the bone has subsided.
“I’m just expecting whatever, however they go, the testing, Xray,’’ said Hardaway Jr., who has been out 15 days. “I’m not going to get too high or low. If I get too high, I’ll get discouraged. It’s something I don’t want to hear, I’ll be upset. It’s whatever the doctors tell me tomorrow, I’m 100 percent all in.”
Before the game, Hardaway Jr. progressed to shooting from the 3point line, getting off the ground ever so slightly.
“I was doing some light shooting,’’ Hardaway Jr. said. “I’m able to do it with the brace on. I’m not in a wheelchair, guys. I can do stuff as long as the brace is on. I’m not going to jump. I’m not going to anything outrageous. I can’t shoot off the wrong leg or full-speed stuff. Just stationary stuff. I can do a little bit here and there.”
Porzingis missed his sixth game after testing his left knee at Monday’s shoot-around and still not feeling 100 percent. He will have two days off and is expected to be back Thursday at the Garden against the Celtics.
“He still felt like he did the other night,’’ Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He went through shoot-around, went through same routine as Saturday and still felt it.” Porzingis missed the Carmelo
Anthony return, saying he needed to be convinced to sit out. Porzingis said Monday he still felt “a pinch’’ on post moves. Porzingis said he hasn’t yet had an MRI because the injury has not been deemed serious.
‘’It’s frustration,’’ Porzingis said. “I want to be on the court as much as possible. Sometimes my head is hot and I want to play even though I shouldn’t play. They have to calm me down and make me think with my head. This [season] is a longterm thing. I want to be on the court as long as possible.”
Porzingis said he wanted to play Saturday versus Anthony, but team physician Lisa Callahan shut him down.
“Once our doctors came, it was close to the game, she just convinced me you should not play this game,” Porzingis said. The blowout allowed Joakim
Noah a chance to shake off some rust as he entered with 6:44 left in garbage time. He received a rousing ovation from the large contingent of Knicks fans who were rendered mostly quiet. Charlotte rookie combo guard Malik Monk, whom Phil Jackson passed up in the draft for Frank Ntilikina, has been taken out of the Hornets rotation. The team believes Monk’s defense isn’t up to snuff. Monk played 2:09 of garbage time, scoring four points.