Crisis averted. For now.
An MRI performed Thursday on Kristaps Porzingis' sore left Achilles revealed no structural damage, the Knicks announced. Porzingis was available to play Thursday night against the Wizards at the Garden, but he was not in the starting lineup, as the coaching staff wanted to limit his minutes.
The Knicks started Carmelo Anthony, Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Kyle O'Quinn, Ron Baker and Derrick Rose.
"Feels good to be back," Porzingis tweeted after the announcement.
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Jeff Hornacek referred to Porzingis' injury as "tendinitis" for the first time Thursday evening. The Knicks had previously been calling the Achilles issue "soreness." But Hornacek made sure to point out that doctors had cleared Porzingis to return to game action.
"They told him that it's not anything to worry about," Hornacek said.
Porzingis missed four straight games entering Thursday night and had played in just four of the Knicks' previous 11 contests. The 21-year-old Latvian suffered a setback with the injury Monday — which prompted the MRI — and he reported feeling a "pinch" in the Achilles when he pushed off his left foot.
But the Knicks opted to make Porzingis available after the test results came back negative.
"He's good to go," Hornacek said before Thursday's game. "They just did an MRI just to make sure there was nothing before he gets back out on the court. We'll try to take it easy on him, kind of gradually get him back into some of the bigger minutes. But we're happy to have him back."
Porzingis' minimal playing time over the last three-plus weeks also influenced Hornacek's decision to bring the 7-3 big man off the bench.
Porzingis sat our three straight games from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4 before returning for a win at the Bucks on Jan. 6. He played the Knicks' next three games — all losses — then was sidelined for four more games when the soreness returned.
"We'll see how his conditioning is," Hornacek said. "I'm sure he'll be winded, so we'll probably have short playing minutes with him at each time, and get him out, get him some rest, and then get him back in."
Also missing from the Knicks' lineup Thursday night was center Joakim Noah, who underwent an MRI on his left ankle that confirmed a sprain. He was unavailable for the matchup with Washington.
Joakim Noah.
(Julie Jacobson/AP)Hornacek said Noah will undergo treatment and "hopefully" will be ready to return to the court Saturday night when the Suns come to town.
Noah signed a four-year, $72 million contract in the offseason and is averaging 5.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 23.1 minutes this year.
He missed his sixth game because of injury Thursday night. He previously dealt with ankle and hamstring issues. Hornacek said he would monitor Noah's health over the coming weeks.
"He has battled some injuries," Hornacek said. "But that's probably because he plays so hard. You're going to get bumps, you're going to get bruises, you're going to get sore if you play that hard. And if he comes in and says, 'I just can't go tonight. I'm hurting,' of course (we won't play him.) But I think over these past two, three weeks he's really played pretty solid for us. …If he needs a rest, he'll let us know."
The Knicks entered Thursday night 5-0 when playing without Noah. Hornacek attributed the undefeated record to, "Coincidence? I don't know."
"Sometimes when guys get out, the other guys see it as an opportunity and maybe they play better when something like that happens," Hornacek said. "Could have been the teams we played. I don't know if you can take any correlation with it."
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