PORZINGIS STRUGGLES AS KNICKS FALL IN OT
DROP TO 3-14 ON THE ROAD
MIAMI — Only Michael Beasley could go from potential hero to unfortunate exit when the Knicks needed him most.
In his return to American-Airlines Arena, Beasley kept his offensive tear going and appeared to be carrying the Knicks to victory. Suddenly, Beasley had to limp off the court with 4:20 left in overtime, taking with him his 20 points in 23 minutes.
He didn’t return until the Knicks trailed by two with 20 seconds left. Beasley passed to Jarrett Jack for a 10-footer that missed, and the ball went out of bounds off the Knicks after they lost a controversial replay review. Then they lost the game — the Heat stealing a wild 107-103 OT victory.
Jeff Hornacek was hot over the replay review, believing it was Knicks ball, but he never saw the replay of Beasley’s unnecessary fall.
Beasley had just put the Knicks in front by two with 4:20 left in the extra session on a super power drive . But Beasley did what Beasley does. As he backpedaled past the Heat bench, he glared at his former team, jabbering, then tripping over Wayne Ellington’s feet and going down hard — injuring his left ankle.
Immediately Beasley limped badly into the locker room and is a major question mark for the trip finale Sunday in Dallas.
“I think I stepped on Wayne’s foot. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose,” Beasley said, attempting a joke. “I just have to ice it, treat it. I think it’s a mild sprain, maybe not a sprain but a twist.”
Asked if he was looking at the Miami bench, Beasley said: “I don’t know — I doubt it.”
Ellington said he figured Beasley was.
The hobbling off by Beasley, who had three separate stints with the Heat, left the Knicks without their hottest player.
Kristaps Porzingis wasn’t sharp enough again. The slumping Latvian finished 5-of-14 for 15 points in 37 minutes two days after complaining of being “so tired.” He didn’t take a shot in the game’s final 6:41.
However, Porzingis assisted on the play that could have catapulted his team to a win. Instead, the Knicks fell to 17-20, three games under .500 for the first time since they were 0-3. They are 1-7 in the past eight games and now 3-14 on the road.
The Knicks deserved better after Doug McDermott forced overovertime with a last-second 3-pointer in regulation off a terrific offensive rebound by Porzingis, who had grabbed Courtney Lee’s misfire. It was the Latvian’s biggest play of the night as he dished to McDermott in the right corner. “The shot went up in the air and we didn’t look to watch if it was going to go in or not,” Hornacek said. “KP was alert.”
Without Beasley, the Knicks couldn’t make a big play, couldn’t get the ball to Porzingis.
“There’s a lot of pressure in the overtime,” Porzingis said. “There weren’t many opportunities for me. We’ll figure out how to get the ball to me and how I can be effective. Right now, we’re struggling a little bit.”
In the final 30 seconds, four Knicks dove onto the floor to save an offensive rebound, but Jack turned it over with 30 seconds left as Josh Richardson flew in on the fast break and got fouled. He made two free throws with 25.7 seconds left to put the Heat up 105-103.
Beasley, who threw shade at former coach Erik Spoelstra before the game, pumped in 11 fourth-quarter points to spark the Knicks’ comeback effort. And then he was gone. “It was tough,’’ Hornacek said. “Mike’s a guy that when it gets physical late in a game, he can take contact and still make shots. He was doing a good job of driving at those guys. They couldn’t really guard him. It hurt us a little. But he had some good looks.”
Desperate, Hornacek turned to Beasley in the huddle before the final play with the team down two with 25.7 seconds left.
“When I asked Michael if he wanted to go back in he said, ‘It hurts, but heck yeah,’ ” Hornacek said. “He’s a gamer. I thought he made the nice pass and didn’t force the shot. Jarrett was open 10 feet away. That’s how you make game-winning plays. We just didn’t make the shot.”