Not much went right for the Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series against the Heat. But before they fell into a 3-0 series hole, the Knicks got valuable first-half production from an unexpected source: Landry Fields.
The beleaguered shooting guard was a revelation. He scored nine points. He hit all three of his shots from the floor. He sank his only 3-point attempt. He grabbed three rebounds. He dished out two assists.
“I thought Landry played pretty well tonight,” interim coach Mike Woodson said after the Knicks’ 87-70 loss to the Heat Thursday night.
Well, not really. Fields followed his solid first half with a total disaster in the second half. He didn’t score a point after the intermission, missing all five of his shots from the floor. He grabbed just one rebound and didn’t rack up any assists.
Fields’ first half was representative of his impressive rookie season last year when the second-round pick from Stanford emerged as the Knicks’ most pleasant surprise. But Fields’ second half was just like his playoff performance last year against Boston when he was abominable.
Fields, like several of his teammates Thursday night, was not available in the locker room after the game to discuss his play or the Knicks’ loss.
Fields will be a free agent this summer, and the Knicks will have an interesting decision to make with him. Especially with Iman Shumpert out for perhaps the start of the season with a torn ACL, Fields would provide insurance with his ability to play the two-guard or the small forward spot. And the Knicks have seen Fields produce here before.
At the same time, the 23-year-old regressed in his second season. His scoring, shooting and rebounding all dropped. The Knicks can’t be sure what they would get from him over the next few seasons.
Fields was impressive in the early going, hitting a putback, banking in a runner and sinking a corner 3-pointer off a Carmelo Anthony pass. He later found J.R. Smith on a fast-break dunk and, late in the first half, deflected a Heat pass out of bounds, then grabbed a defensive rebound a few seconds later.
All of that was valuable. Nothing after halftime was.
mark.hale@nypost.com