James landed awkwardly while attempting to catch a lob pass in the third quarter Sunday during the Miami Heat’s 99-93 win over the New York Knicks.

The Miami Herald reported earlier Monday that James would have his knee examined by a team doctor once the Heat arrived in Minneapolis.

But a source told Windhorst that James was examined Sunday in New York by Knicks team doctors, who determined that the nine-time All-Star avoided serious damage to the knee. James’ knee responded well during the flight to Minneapolis, and he will not undergo an MRI, according to the source.

James visibly attempted to loosen his knee during the third quarter Sunday but looked fine in the closing minutes, making several critical plays in Miami’s franchise-record 14th consecutive victory.

“His motor is limitless. I don’t want to take that for granted. I don’t just want to assume that he can play 40-plus minutes, but he had to do it on both ends,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Couldn’t get him out in the fourth quarter and if I would have tried, he probably would have strangled me.

“He was strong and was at his strongest after 40 minutes of basketball.”

James, who finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, ended the Knicks’ final hopes when he stepped in front of a pass headed toward Carmelo Anthony and broke in alone for the slam.

“We feel like this is one of our better wins of the season, even under the circumstances that we went through tonight, a little adversity being down double digits,” James said.

The last time James missed a game due to injury was Jan. 5, 2012, when he was sidelined against the Atlanta Hawks due to a turned ankle. The Heat, who also were without Dwyane Wade in that game, still managed to beat the Hawks in triple overtime, 116-109.

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General manager George McPhee met with reporters for some 20 minutes at the team’s facility and cited penalties and goaltending as the major culprits that have caused the Capitals to lose nine of their first 11 games.

McPhee had positive words for new coach Adam Oates and franchise player Alex Ovechkin, even though the former two-time league MVP has yet to score a 5-on-5 goal this season.

“We’re disappointed with the way things have started. It’s not over. Nothing that a couple of wins won’t really help,” McPhee said. “But we’re going to make good decisions. We’re not going to do anything short term. We’re not going to blow anything up. We like the people here.”

The Capitals lost 5-2 to the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and have yet to score four goals in a game this season. They have allowed an NHL-high 15 power play goals.

“We’re playing a good game and then we start taking penalties, and we take them in bunches,” McPhee said. “And no system, no coach, no team can survive that.”

McPhee called the rash of penalties “undisciplined” and “selfish” and said they resulted from a “lack of focus.” But he didn’t link those deficiencies to the leadership of Oates, a first-time NHL coach who had an abbreviated training camp because of the lockout-shortened season.

“I really like the coaches. I love what they’re doing,” McPhee said. “I like the way that we’re playing in terms of our system.”

The Capitals appeared to be set at goalie with rising stars Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth vying for playing time this season, but both have been disappointing so far.

“There is upside there with these goaltenders,” McPhee said. “But they can both play better and they know it. And it’s time for them to play.”

As for Ovechkin, McPhee is pleased with the high-priced forward who has switched this season from left wing to right. Ovechkin has only three goals — all on the power play — and was visibly seething after the loss to the Penguins.

“I really like the way Alex has played the last four games,” McPhee said. “Adam is convinced that he can get him playing the way that Ovi can play, and a couple of these games are the best that we’ve seen him in a long time. … He’s getting a lot more chances on the right side than the left. He’s a much more effective player. I like it a lot. You might disagree, but it looks a lot better to us.”

Owner Ted Leonsis also noted the struggles of the goaltending and the offense on his blog Friday and added: “We have many challenges as an organization, and as a team.”

“I’ve had some real good discussions with ownership over the last couple of days,” McPhee said. “They’re obviously not very happy. But they’ve been supportive. At times like this, ownership can pile on and make things worse or ownership can say, ‘How can we help? And what can we do to make it better?’ And it’s been the latter. … And I provided some options, and they provided some real clear direction, which was great.

“So that being said, if there’s something I can do to help the club out, I will. But I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

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Kris Letang, Paul Martin and Matt Cooke also scored, Sidney Crosby had three assists, and Tomas Vokoun made 21 saves against his former team for the Penguins, who have won three straight and four of five to lead the Atlantic Division.

Mike Green, John Carlson and Mike Ribeiro scored for the Capitals — and Carlson’s goal was an accident that took a weird carom off a stanchion along the glass. Two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin, who said before the game that he was somewhat embarrassed to have only three points on the season, contributed a secondary assist on a third-period power-play goal with Washington trailing by three.

Washington has lost seven of nine games to start the season. Hosting the Penguins as a Super Bowl warm-up for the third straight year, the Capitals no longer look like the formidable team that beat Pittsburgh 5-4 in overtime with a hat trick from Ovechkin in 2010 and shut out the Penguins 3-0 a year ago — both feisty games that included punches thrown by Ovechkin.

Ovechkin was overly physical in this game as well, getting a roughing call in the final two minutes.

Under new coach Adam Oates, the Capitals are feeling their way around the ice, especially on defense. Braden Holtby stopped only 20 of 26 shots, allowing Letang and Kunitz to beat him glove side 37 seconds apart in the second period to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

Vokoun, who shut out the New York Rangers on Thursday, made a successful return to the Verizon Center. He was signed to be the Capitals’ No. 1 goalie last season but hurt his groin and was eclipsed by Holtby during the playoffs, prompting Washington to trade him to Pittsburgh.

Martin scored from the point after Crosby won a faceoff in the Capitals’ zone to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the first period. Washington tied it less than two minutes later after a nice sequence in which Ribeiro won the puck along the boards and passed it to Wojtek Wolski, who then sent it along to a wide-open Green.

After Cooke made it 2-1, Carlson tied it on a bizarre goal in the second period. The Capitals defenseman was merely trying to dump the puck along the boards, but it rose up and took an odd deflection. Vokoun had already started to retreat behind the net to intercept the puck and tripped trying to change direction to get back to the crease.

Game notes

Ovechkin said before the game that the Capitals were in a “desperate moment.” He noted that he and other NHL players who spent the lockout playing in Russia should be doing better. “Right now I’m standing here, I have only three points, and, you know, it kind of embarrass me.” … The Capitals played the first of three games without D John Erskine, who was suspended for three games for elbowing Wayne Simmonds in Friday’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers. … Washington had been 12-1-3 in its previous 16 regular-season meetings vs. Pittsburgh.

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Gentry didn’t mesh quite as well with the new bunch at Planet Orange and it cost him his job.

Unable to get a revamped roster headed in the right direction, Gentry and the last-place Suns agreed to part ways on Friday, ending the five-year run of one of the franchise’s most popular coaches.

The team said an interim coach from within the organization is expected to be named in the next 24 to 48 hours.

“Alvin Gentry is a good coach and a good person,” Suns vice president of basketball operations Lon Babby said from the US Airways Center. “He was the perfect coach for our previous group. But with the current group, all of us, including Alvin himself, realized that it just wasn’t working, the pieces just weren’t fitting.”

Phoenix’s head coach since Terry Porter was fired at the All-Star break in 2009, Gentry got the Suns back to the freewheeling ways of former coach Mike D’Antoni, his one-time boss.

Led by Nash, a two-time league MVP, the fast-paced style worked early on, with the Suns going 54-28 and reaching the Western Conference finals in Gentry’s first full season as coach.

After that, Phoenix had mixed results, struggling to find a go-to scorer when power forward Amar’e Stoudemire turned down a deal to return to the desert and signed with the New York Knicks.

The Suns underwent a complete overhaul over the summer, when Nash went to the rival Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal, All-Star forward Grant Hill left for the Clippers and nine new players were added to the roster.

The new-look Suns struggled from the start and went into a deeper tailspin over the past month or so, losing 13 of 15 and four straight at home. Their 13-28 record is the worst in the Western Conference and leaves them 18½ games behind the Los Angeles Clippers in the Pacific Division heading into Friday’s games.

After a 98-94 loss to Milwaukee on Thursday night, one that ended the Bucks’ 24-game losing streak in Phoenix, Gentry met with Babby and Suns managing partner Robert Sarver, coming to the conclusion that his tenure in the desert should end.

Gentry went 158-144 during his stint with the Suns.

“After nine years with the Suns, the organization and I came to a mutual agreement to go in different directions,” Gentry said in a statement. “I have the utmost respect for Robert and what he’s done with the organization. It’s unfortunate that I was unable to accomplish what I set out to do here.”

Gentry, who was in the final year of his contract, has been in coaching for three decades, including stints as head coach of the Detroit Pistons, Clippers and Miami Heat.

He came to the Suns as an assistant to D’Antoni and stayed on Porter’s staff when D’Antoni left for the Knicks. Gentry was named interim coach when Porter was fired and stayed on as the permanent head coach.

He had some success with the up-tempo style D’Antoni had championed, but the Suns lacked a true scorer and struggled defensively, missing the playoffs the previous two seasons.

When Phoenix opted not to sign Nash with an eye toward rebuilding, Babby and general manager Lance Blanks blew up its roster. Gentry continuously tried new lineups to find a spark, but nothing seemed to work as crowds at the once boisterous US Airways Center started to dwindle.

Gentry recently said it might be better for the team to turn to its younger players and look toward the future, but now it will be without him at the helm.

“It wasn’t that we weren’t winning enough games so much as a feel that we weren’t progressing, that we were regressing,” Babby said. “We can’t have that. We’ve got to have our closure moving forward. We didn’t feel like we were moving forward and I don’t think Alvin felt like we were moving forward.”

The Suns don’t play again until Wednesday, when they’re at Sacramento.

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