In keeping with what they did much of the night in Wednesday’s blowout loss to Houston, the Knicks found themselves in the midst of a broken play late in the third quarter. Rookie Damyean Dotson found himself with the ball. So he shot.

Dotson bagged a 23-footer for his first career points, finally making a shot after five misfires in previous games. He made 4-of-5 shots and scored nine points in the 119-97 loss to Houston.

“It was like a broken play so I said, ‘I might as well just shoot it.’ When it went in, I felt it,” said Dotson, 6-foot-6 wing with a troubled past who the Knicks picked in the second round. “As I was running back, I was like, ‘Man, that was my first shot.’ ”

For Dotson, who was kicked out of Oregon after rape charges that eventually were dropped, the chance just to play basketball again became a dream. He went to the University of Houston and started the long haul back and found his way to the NBA. He showed well in summer league for the Knicks and has kept impressing. The most important element so far is the game slowed down for him. Or maybe, he slowed down for the game.

“Coming in, I was just so hyped. I was moving around everywhere, trying to help everybody on the court,” Dotson said. “For me it’s just slowing down and recognizing what guys’ jobs are and what my job is. Basically, knowing my role, knowing where I’m supposed to be, taking things slow and letting it come to me.”

The Knicks like what they’ve seen in small samples. Dotson played 17 minutes Wednesday after playing 20 in four appearances through six games. What do the Knicks have?

“Exactly what you see. He can really shoot the ball, he gets after it defensively, he’s strong,” coach Jeff Hornacek said Thursday. “We showed on tape, Ryan Anderson started to go towards the post-up area and he just hit him and Anderson stepped back out. We like how tough he plays. He’s going to learn. He’s still a young player in this league and sometimes his aggressiveness maybe gets you in trouble but we like that about him. He’s an all-around guy. He’s two-way: he can score and he can play defense.”

Dotson pretty much described himself the same way. His role?

“I would say two-way guy, 3-point shooter, put it on the ground, play defense, play hard, rebound,” Dotson said. “When I come in, bring the energy.”

Spoken like an NBA pro.