Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek speaks about Kristaps Porzingis injury after loss to Milwaukee on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. Later it was announced that Porzingis suffered a torn ACL and isn't expected to return this season. Steve Popper/NorthJersey.com
NEW YORK — It should have been the sort of play that would be running on highlight loops at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks young star, Kristaps Porzingis, rising up and delivering a one-handed dunk over his Milwaukee Bucks' counterpart, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But before the applause could even begin, Porzingis came down awkwardly on Antetokounmpo's foot, his left ankle twisting and his knee seeming to give way. He immediately rolled around in pain, grasping at the back of his knee and pounding his fist on the floor just a few feet from Knicks' owner James Dolan.
Porzingis suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, a devastating blow to the young star and to the Knicks. He is expected to undergo surgery which will not only sideline him for the remainder of the season but almost certainly into the start of next season.
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His dunk with 8:50 left in the first half gave the Knicks a one-point lead. But by the end of the half they were down and in the second half as Porzingis departed for the hospital and an MRI on his left knee the Knicks fell behind by as many as 21 points, a hint of what life without Porzingis could look like as they fell, 103-89, to the Bucks at Madison Square Garden.
"Guys have to step it up," Knicks' coach Jeff Hornacek said. "KP missed a few games. We don’t look great when he’s not out there. We’ll need some big efforts from guys. We got to get a couple of guys going a little bit better and guys off the bench have to step up. We got to go out there and somebody’s got to step up."
The loss dropped the Knicks to a season-worst nine games under .500 at 23-32 as they head to Toronto next, where they will be for the trade deadline.
The team did not provide a timetable, but as examples, Iman Shumpert was a 21-year-old rookie when he tore his ACL with the Knicks and was sidelined for nearly nine months. Derrick Rose was 23 when he suffered the injury and was out 16 months. Jabari Parker, who just returned from a second torn ACL was out 10 months the first time and nearly a full calendar year with the most recent one.
Adding to the trouble with insult and injury, Antetokounmpo soared over Hardaway Jr - really, over the 6-foot-6 wing - for a dunk in the third quarter and then in the fourth quarter Hardaway Jr. headed to the locker room, limping and then hopping on one leg, holding his left lower leg - the same area that had been afflicted with a stress injury earlier this season, sidelining him for 20 games. X-rays were negative and Hardaway was hopeful that the kick in the shin was just a stinger.
Enes Kanter was elbowed in the face again, opening up the stitches that he has had inside his mouth. This time, rather than try to stitch it again, he will undergo oral surgery Wednesday morning to try to repair the wound.
But the decision of whether to maintain their slow rebuild or set back even further as sellers at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline could shift on the status of Porzingis’s left knee.
A torn ACL will require surgery and as an example, Milwaukee's Jabari Parker just returned Friday from nearly a full calendar year off after tearing his ACL. With a serious injury for the 22-year-old face of the franchise, it should solidify the reality that the Knicks’ situation.
"He’s more than a basketball player, he’s my brother, man," Kanter said. "I don’t want to see anybody just going down like that, holding his knee. That’s a tough feeling. He’s a young basketball player. He’s having fun. He’s about to be an All-Star. Just thinking everything that’s going through his mind, it’s tough, man. I’m just praying for him tonight."
He had what appeared to be a serious injury to his left ankle earlier this season in the opening minutes of a win over the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden, but recovered quickly, sitting out just two games before returning to action. He has missed seven games this season after missing 16 last season and 10 as a rookie.
As Porzingis was aided to the locker room, Knicks' executives Scott Perry and Steve Mills got up from their center court seats and headed back to meet him. Even before Porzingis went down the two had their hands full with what they had planned on as the foundational building blocks of the franchise - Porzingis, Frank Ntilikina, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Willy Hernangomez - hardly living up to expectations this season.
Ntilikina has, as could be expected from a 19-year-old from France, struggled at times to find his place. Hernangomez has been buried on the bench. And Hardaway Jr. has missed 20 games with a stress injury in his left leg, which is no more painful than his performance on the court of late as he has struggled with his offense. He entered the game 5-for-33 over his last three games and was 4-for-13 - including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc - Tuesday.
While Porzingis has struggled at times to carry the load, he was chosen as a reserve on the Eastern Conference All-Star team and entered Tuesday's game averaging 22.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and an NBA-leading 2.4 block shots per game. He was 4-for-5 for 10 points Tuesday before departing.
Hornacek said that he is approaching the deadline with no change in plans, playing to win with the players he has until he hears otherwise.
“That’s Steve and Scott. The plan we started out at the beginning of the year doing still we want to try and win games,” Hornacek said. “It’s that part of the season when, okay, do we kind of go with the young guys? I don’t even know if that will happen.
“We still want to give guys opportunities, let them grow, but in a way they have to earn their time. Not just ok now you’re going to play just to play. That’s what keep guys working hard. All our guys understand that. They know they got to get in the gym, work on their game, try to improve on their weaknesses. That’s going to benefit them. They may not see it right away. But in their careers that’s going to benefit them, continue to work hard and you got to earn your time.”
BRIEFS: Frank Ntilikina sat out the second half Sunday with a sore quad tendon in his right knee, but was back in action Tuesday.