Knicks can’t stop raving about Enes Kanter’s dedication
Enes Kanter showed up for the Knicks game with the Hawks on Sunday on crutches.
So naturally, he started.
“If you’re going to make the playoffs, you’re going to make some sacrifices,” said Kanter, who was feeling the effects of getting kneed in the hip Saturday in Chicago — an injury that left him on crutches for two days. “I was in pain but [the doctors] just literally said, ‘Hey, if you want to play, we’re not going to say don’t play.’
“They just say, ‘OK, it’s your decision.’ ”
So Kanter, who missed three late-November games with back spasms, played — 18 minutes, scoring eight points.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel in the morning — but we got the win, I’m good,” said Kanter, who impressed his teammates.
“This guy came in crutches today. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “He was able to play, starting the game. That guy is unbelievable. He’s a warrior.”
“He’s the first guy I’ve ever seen come to a game on crutches and still start the game and he’s about to leave on crutches,” Jarrett Jack said. “I’ve never seen that before in my 13 years in the league.”
“I gave him a ride home last night at about 3 a.m., when I got in, and pulling the crutches out of my car and helping him to his room, there’s no way this guy’s playing, but he’s a warrior,” Doug McDermott said.
When the season began, Porzingis averaged a franchise record-setting 30.4 points in his first 11 games. Before scoring 30 Sunday, Porzingis averaged 17.5 in 10 games, including a 4-point effort against Miami when he was knocked out early in the first quarter with a sprained ankle.
So what happened? Defenses swarm and simply corral Porzingis.
“The shots are pretty much the same, but there’s a lot less space,” Porzingis said. “The defenses. There’s more attention on me now. The beginning of the season, I felt a little more space, a little more freedom. Now everybody is ready to help. So I have to make adjustments and I have to keep learning.”
Double teams are coming the instant Porzingis makes a move. The Bulls did it effectively Saturday in the Knicks’ 104-102 road defeat.
“I thought earlier on when he did get the ball in the mid-post area, he made his moves quickly. (Against the Bulls), it was a little methodical where we want to try to bang and all of the sudden guys were coming. They were doing a good job of coming right when he started to make his move,” coach Jeff Hornacek said.
Michael Beasley fouled out Sunday.
In under 10 minutes: 9:49 to be exact.
“He went for a couple steals. He got fouls a couple times he went for it,” Hornacek said. “They were driving the ball and he was trying to come over and help out so he got a couple of fouls that way…He knew he was coming off the bench so he was trying to be aggressive.”
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Rookie Frank Ntilikina has had a typically up-and-down start to his rookie season. But Hornacek was impressed with what he saw from the 19-year-old Saturday and again Sunday.
“Frank played with great confidence,” Hornacek said of Saturday. “We want him to be on the attack a little bit more and make a play. It doesn’t have to be a shot. And then when he got some threes, he didn’t hesitate.”
And then Sunday, he was impressed with the rookie, especially when teamed with Ron Baker.
“With Frank and Ron out there, the aggressiveness, both of those guys are really good in the rotations,” Hornacek said. “They rotate right almost every time. Consequently, Frank got a couple of steals out of it. Ron puts pressure on the ball. That combination is very good and I loved what they were doing.”
The Knicks face the Lakers on Tuesday and stage their first Hanukkah Night, celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. Ex-Knick Amar’e Stoudemire will light the ceremonial menorah during the first quarter.
As part of Garden of Dreams Night on Sunday, Hornacek had two teens in, aspiring coach Rikky Degale, 19, and player hopeful Kevin Thompson, 15. Degale, who suffered a stroke at age 17, was the game’s honorary coach. Thompson, on hand through the Make-A-Wish Honorary Knick experience, has undergone nine surgeries since his premature birth. The two met the team and coaching staff Dec. 1 at the practice facility and both participated in pregame activities with the team, including warm-ups, the national anthem and player introductions.