The Knicks posted an 111-104 victory over the Nets in Barclays Center, and the best news of all — more than Courtney Lee’s 27 points, more than Frank Ntilikina’s continued development, more than a victory on the road — was that Kristaps Porzingis could stand and walk.
Now standing erect became a big deal a few million years ago, but for Porzingis, that was a probable sign his sore left knee that he tweaked and twisted had not been subjected to a serious injury and his sitting out was just precaution.
“I’m walking around. It shouldn’t be anything like that,” said Porzingis, who exited at 9:25 of the third quarter, never to return. “It should be much more clearer tomorrow. But I should have some bad pain but I’m not. I’m standing and doing everything so it’s just them being cautious and tomorrow when we find out, I’ll let you know.”
Every media type within spitting distance vowed to be glued to his phone on Friday. So that whole win-on-the-road thing sort of got lost Thursday. The Knicks already were without Tim Hardaway Jr., their second-leading scorer who before the game put himself as day-to-day with no timetable for a return. Then Porzingis exited.
The Knicks hardly felt like celebrating.
“That’s your best player if he goes down, it’s ‘Man, we’re in a war.’ You’ve got to step up and forget about it,” said center Enes Kanter.
Even though preliminary indications say this was not a serious injury, this is Porzingis and naturally there is worry. Unicorns don’t grow on trees.
Coach Jeff Hornacek said Porzingis tweaked the knee in the first half. Porzingis claimed he felt the knee “buckle” and he experienced “a little sharp” pain.
“It was a play when I actually made the pass in the corner to Courtney and he hit the 3. I felt my knee kind of buckle a little bit and I felt a little pain there,” Porzingis said. “So yeah, it’s more just being cautious. I had a little sharp pain there and that’s it. I honestly don’t have any more information about what’s going on there. Hopefully it’s not too serious.”
And Porzingis was very noncommittal about Saturday’s home game against the Thunder and one Carmelo Anthony. He wants to play. He hopes to play. He won’t have even the slightest idea if he can play until Friday.
There has to be concern over Porzingis’ long-term durability. He missed 10 games as a rookie and 16 games last season with injuries that affected his shoulder, Achilles, ankle, thigh, lower leg and back. This season, there were two nights off in back-to-back scenarios in which elbow bursitis also played a part. And there were two games missed with a sore ankle.
Despite all the summer work, Porzingis is not exactly Charles Oakley in terms of durability. Oakley once griped uncontrollably when he was informed he could not play with a cast on his broken hand. Porzingis also feels the frustration of the nagging dings and dents.
“Definitely there is [frustration],” Porzingis said. “It’s hard. I wanted to play. I want to play and I don’t want to miss any games at all. Especially this year every team is super physical with me and try to play hard defense against me … that makes the risk greater of something happening.
“I did what I could this summer to prepare my body for this. Hopefully … I can keep working on my body and strengthen all the ligaments everything and do what I can to avoid these kind of things.”
While durability has been a concern since his 7-foot-3 frame joined the organization, Porzingis simply has been subjected to normal NBA rigors, Hornacek said.
“When he’s got bumps and bruises like that, we’ve really got to take a look and make sure we don’t push him too fast,” Hornacek said. “He wants to be out there, but again, we’re looking at the long-term of the season and if he’s not feeling great, let’s not make anything worse.”