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GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Raymond Felton says his left ankle is 100 percent heading into Game 3 in Indiana.
The Knicks point guard sprained his ankle late in the third quarter of Game 2’s 105-79 rout and missed the fourth quarter. But he will have had nearly four full days rest by the tip of Game 3 Saturday night.
“Oh, yeah,” he said Friday when asked if it was 100 percent. “It’s OK, it’s OK.”
Felton wasn’t at practice Thursday for personal reasons but has been a huge piece of the Knicks’ postseason, averaging 16.9 points and 4.8 assists.
Sitting out the fourth quarter wasn’t that hard, he said, because the Knicks used a 30-2 second-half run to take charge.
“It was fun because was was leading by 20 points so it wasn’t difficult at all,” Felton said. “If the game would’ve been a little different, then it would’ve been difficult. If I needed to I would’ve went back into the game.”
As the scene shifts to Indiana, Felton said the Knicks need to continue to move the ball on the perimeter, which was a big factor in their 18-5 start to the campaign and in their 16-2 finish.
“As a team, we gotta know that’s how we are successful against them,” Felton said. “We gotta make a conscious effort of doing that each and every time down the court, really swinging the ball, moving the ball from side-to-side.”
The Knicks guards also need to continue to work to keep Lance Stephenson and the Pacers guards off the glass. Indiana is outrebounding opponent 47-37 in the playoffs, with the Brooklyn-born Stephenson averaging 8.1
“That’s something that we watched film,” he said. “We went over it. We just made a conscious effort of keeping those guys off the boards. They a great defensive team, from their big men all the way down to their guards so we all gotta kick in as a group and really rebound the ball.”
As for Felton’s backcourt-mate, Jason Kidd, he is scoreless in his last six games and is averaging 1.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the postseason.
“I don’t have to score to win,” Kidd said. “That’s not my game. My game is to get my teammates the ball and play defense and if a shot presents itself, take it – make or miss. I’m not going to fall in that trap to go out here and shoot 10 times to see if I can get myself going.”
He said it’s more important that the Knicks continue to space the floor and move the ball with their lineup that includes two point guards in Pablo Prigioni and Felton, Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.
“I think we all know that as a team when we move the ball we’re pretty good,” Kidd said. “When the ball sticks we try to go individually one-on-one and we become one of the bottom teams in the league.
“So we understand what we have to do is move the ball – make or miss we have to get a good shot.”
