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Kristaps Porzingis Injures Foot, Hopeful For Wednesday Night

By Sean Linhares

Nov 29, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks power forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) drives the ball against Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones (6) during the third quarter of the game at Madison Square Garden. The Rockets won 116-111. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks power forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) drives the ball against Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones (6) during the third quarter of the game at Madison Square Garden. The Rockets won 116-111. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite dominating the majority of the game, the New York Knicks had to claw out a two-overtime victory Monday afternoon against the Philadelphia 76ers. The win would come at a cost though, as rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis appeared to injure his foot in the fourth quarter.

While the New York Knicks have overall been an overwhelming joy to watch this season, with the team at 21-22 after Sunday afternoons matinee. After just three months into the new season, the Knicks already are sitting with four more wins than they had all of last year, a remarkable turnaround for Phil Jackson and company.

With that being said, it has been the explosion of Kristaps Porzingis onto the NBA scene that has many fans feeling particularly giddy.

After being drafted fourth overall to a plethora of boos from the Knicks faithful, Kristaps has shown pretty clearly over the first half of the season that he is the future of New York basketball, winning back-to-back Rookie of the Month awards on 13.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game with a true shooting percentage of 47 percent.

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The man is the first genuine, pure symbol of hope the Knicks have had since drafting Patrick Ewing all those years ago. Outside of maybe the Carmelo Anthony trade and the insanity around Jeremy Lin, nothing even comes close to Kristaps and what he has brought to the table thus far.

Just how impactful has KP been on the Knicks?

With Porzingis on the court, New York is scoring 6.2 more points per 100 possessions, while also snagging 1.8 percent more rebounds in the same time frame. Not surprisingly, the Knicks are outscoring opponents by 6.3 points with KP playing. Simply put, that is lit.

It’s because of how effective Kristaps has been that Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers is suddenly so significant.

While the game itself was actually surprisingly fun, especially considering it was a matinee featuring one of the NBA’s bottom-tier teams, the core takeaway from it was Porzingis’ health.

Late in the second half, Porzingis came up limping after driving towards the rim in hopes of snagging a rebound. Outside of the final possession that saw Carmelo Anthony nail a three pointer and send the game to overtime, KP would sit out the remainder of the game – including both overtimes.

I’d like to think that I speak for most Knicks fans when I say the following- It felt like my chest was closing in on me. How Knicks would it be to, after finally finding a franchise star, have that same star break his foot and never be the same? It’s the type of thing that has genuinely given me nightmares all season.

At this point, I probably care about a 7-foot Latvian’s health over my own, and definitely care about it more than that of my friends and family.

Luckily for us, KP appears to be fine. Breathe and watch another highlight.

Despite sitting out both overtimes, Kristaps said postgame that he’d hope to play Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz. Of course he did though, seeing as Kristaps is a legend and would obviously try to play through the pain. Just because a player wants to play doesn’t mean that he should play.

Big men and foot injuries have a storied history together, with many 7-footers often developing bone spurs or stress fractures that can quickly derail a career. Considering Porzingis is only 20 years old, 7-foot-3 and still seemingly growing, foot injuries are the last thing you want to mess with.

With Kristaps hurting his foot on a non-contact injury, you might want to take a few days and let him get back to 100 percent. With a great defensive big like Rudy Gobert potentially harassing him down low Wednesday night, this just doesn’t seem like the type of game you want to risk Kristaps in.

Instead, having KP sit and put more of a focus on the Knicks backcourt offensively will probably be the smart move for Derek Fisher. The Jazz don’t have a guard that scares you defensively, making for a potentially big scoring night for Arron Afflalo and Langston Galloway.

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Plus, Gobert isn’t great at creating his own offense and with no Derrick Favors in the cards for Utah, it’s likely the Knicks frontcourt could get by with a starting duo of Kyle O’Quinn and Robin Lopez.

All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and ShotAnalytics.com

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