Immanuel Quickley latest Knick to experience ankle injury during Game 3 loss to Heat
MIAMI — Another day, another ankle sprain.
Immanuel Quickley became the latest player in this series to suffer the dreaded foot turn, limping off the court in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 106-85 Game 3 loss to the Heat.
The backup guard didn’t show much swelling in the locker room afterward, but the immediate aftermath had Quickley on the court in agony.
“It hurt a lot,” he said.
Quickley was unsure of his status for Monday’s Game 4.
“No idea,” he said. “We’ll see.”
With about six minutes remaining and the Knicks trailing by 19, Quickley poked possession away from Heat center Bam Adebayo in the paint. Adebayo dove for the loose ball and undercut the legs of Quickley, who was lucky to avoid a knee injury.
The Knicks called a timeout and Quickley limped to the locker room, where he remained until the game was over.
“We’ll know more [on Sunday],” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
After emerging as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, Quickley has been a disappointment in the playoffs while shooting just 34.8% overall and 24.3% from beyond the arc. His struggles continued Saturday while missing 8 of his 12 attempts.
“I don’t know if [Miami] did anything different,” Quickley said. “Go back and look at the film, see where we can get better offensively. See what we did good, see what we need to work on. I thought I got some good looks. But like I said, go into the film room and get better.”
New York’s bench was outscored by Miami’s, 32-25.
“Defensively we got to be better,” Quickley said. “I know they jumped on us early, got off to a 9-0 run. Duncan Robinson got a 3 right off the bat [for Miami]. They were getting offensive rebounds. Just got to be better from the jump.”
DUSTUP
A small scuffle broke out in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Julius Randle and Cody Zeller were tied up fighting for a rebound, which turned heated when Zeller added a shove at the end.
Isaiah Hartenstein darted onto the scene to push Zeller. Caleb Martin shoved Hartenstein. It wasn’t a 1990s Heat-Knicks fight but it still resulted in three technical fouls (two on the Heat, one on the Knicks).
“I’m gonna protect my teammate, no matter what,” Hartenstein said. “I saw [Zeller] push Julius to the ground and no matter who it is, I’m always going to protect my teammate. That’s what I thought was necessary at that time.”
Randle, who had been mixing it up with Zeller on previous possessions, called the situation “irrelevant.” After the players were separated, Jimmy Butler began dancing on the court.
