Immanuel Quickley (ankle sprain) is doubtful for Game 4

The New York Knicks have a rough hill to climb in Game 4. They need to beat a Miami Heat team that has roundly outplayed them in this series. And they will also likely be without their best bench player, as Immanuel Quickley has been declared doubtful for Monday’s game.

Quickley was hurt in the second half of an embarrassing Game 3 loss on Saturday. With the quick turnaround between games, it’s perhaps no surprise that IQ probably won’t be ready for Monday night.

This is a big blow for the Knicks. Quickley hasn’t been good in this series — then again, almost nobody in the blue and orange has been good throughout the series. The Knicks need Quickley’s spark off the bench. Their second unit has been badly outplayed by Miami’s through the first three games.

The most obvious solution if Quickley can’t go would be to hand his backup PG minutes to Miles McBride. Deuce was very good in a limited role in the first round, and he has typically been the first guard in the rotation when someone is hurt. However, the head coach has been hesitant to make the moves that worked so well for his team in the regular season — for example, starting Quentin Grimes. My guess is he’ll try to wring more minutes out of a hobbled Jalen Brunson in Game 4.

We’ll see soon enough.