Kristaps Porzingis left Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Heat with an ankle injury, one that looked extremely serious by replay.
Things were finally looking up for Kristaps Porzinigis. With Phil Jackson out of the Knicks’ front office and Carmelo Anthony out of the Knicks’ frontcourt, Porzingis and the Knicks had been off to a surprisingly strong start. Very few people saw them as a playoff team before the season began but they entered Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Heat with a 10-10 record, holding down the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference.
They will leave the game without Porzingis, potentially for an extended period of time. Midway through the first quarter, Porzingis and Heat forward Justise Winslow were both chasing a loose ball. Winslow accidentally stepped on Porzingis’ foot and stopping his momentum and causing his ankle to bend at an ugly angle.
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Porzingis was helped back to the locker room. He did appear to be putting at least some weight on the leg as he left the floor — really reaching for a silver lining in what appears to be an ugly fork in the road for the Knicks’ season.
UPDATE:
Porzinigis had cooled off slightly over the past few games after surging to the league’s scoring lead early in the season. Entering Wednesday’s game he was averaging 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and a league-leading 2.2 blocks per game, shooting 46.4 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent on 3-pointers.
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The Knicks do have some frontcourt depth with Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn both serving as capable big men. In addition this may open some minutes for Willy Hernangomez who had a promising rookie season but had fallen out of the rotation this season. However, the Knicks may be sunk if Porzingis is forced to miss an extended amount of time. So far this season the Knicks have been outscored by an average of 10.0 points per 100 possessions when he hasn’t been on the floor.