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New York Knicks: The night Kristaps Porzingis almost lost his ankle

By Bobby Friedman

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 24: Head Coach Jeff Hornacek of the New York Knicks looks on during the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on October 24, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics defeat the Knicks 110-89. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 24: Head Coach Jeff Hornacek of the New York Knicks looks on during the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on October 24, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics defeat the Knicks 110-89. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Kristaps Porzingis left Wednesday night’s game with a sprained ankle but the New York Knicks were still able to defeat the Miami Heat 115-86.

Don’t worry, the ugliest injury of the season still belongs to Gordon Hayward, but when you watch the first quarter injury to Kristaps Porzingis’ ankle, it certainly looked like the inevitable and typical ending to any hope New York Knicks fans have had in the past few decades.

Bottom line: the Knicks dodged a bullet this time.  X-rays were negative on a break and he left the arena without a walking boot.  Still not out of the woods yet, as an MRI hasn’t been taken yet, and it’d be tough to believe there is no ligament damage from the looks of the injury.  Injury aside, here are the big takeaways from last night’s victory over the Miami Heat:

Lee is the Key

Despite the recent retirement of beloved Knick David Lee, the rise of another Lee has helped fuel this season’s success. The consistent play of Courtney Lee is invaluable to this Knick team. He is averaging more than 12 points, three rebounds, and three assists on the season and hasn’t missed a game of production, come injury, blow out win, or blow out loss.

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Kanter the Ranter

Enes Kanter is playing great, but he might need to learn to close his mouth.  In the post-game, he said he thinks the OKC Thunder are the best team in the West.  Firstly, that just isn’t the case, but more importantly, it’s showing either he doesn’t understand basketball (not likely) or he just doesn’t watch other games. That’s fine, but his heart should be in New York … The Thunder sold you for a vain attempt to be a contender. Don’t forget that.

A Balanced Attack

Bravo to coach Jeff Hornacek. Instead of being frazzled by a huge question mark that was Porzingis’s gruesome-looking injury, he took care of business against Miami with a perfectly balanced attack: Tim Hardaway Jr., 29 minutes; Kanter, 25 minutes; Lee, 28 minutes; Jarrett Jack, 24 minutes; Doug McDermott, 29 minutes; Ramon Sessions, 24 minutes; Lance Thomas, 24 minutes; and finally albeit garbage time, a motivated Willy Hernangomez managed to rack up eight point and eight boards in nine minutes!

Next: What’s the deal with Willy Hernangomez?

The New York Knicks have a lot of winnable games coming up (Orlando, Indiana, Memphis, Chicago, Atlanta, Lakers, Brooklyn), and though it’s still unclear how much time Zinger will need to recover from this ankle injury, it is clear the Knicks have the competency to finish this year in the playoff conversation in the Eastern Conference.

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