“Could’ve done this with my own arm, but okay!”
It’s the first day after Christmas. Did your true love give to thee -- a Kristaps Porzingis jersey?
Hands down, Kris P. Kreme is the hottest, freshest thing flying out of the Big Apple’s ovens these days. Children trained by their fathers to thumb-down the selection of the 7-foot-3 Latvian-a-leaping over the past summer are now, in what is purported to be wintertime, begging Santa, the NBA Store, and anyone who’ll listen for his jersey.
That has a lot to do with the 20-year-old’s highlight-reel talents. It also has an awful lot more to do with the name of the city on the front of the jersey. Porzingis’ New York Knicks are in town to face the Atlanta Hawks (EARLY START: 7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, MSG Network), and dormant Knicks fans around the ATL could not be more pleased.
You have to keep this all in context. The Knicks have exactly one 50-plus win season, and one playoff series victory, in the past 16 NBA seasons, including this one. That season had Mike Woodson, of all people, running the show. At this point, as the calendar turns toward 2016, Knick fans around the globe could not possibly care less about title contention. Winning always sounds great. But failing that, they simply want to be entertained.
Linsanity, Imandemonium, Zingsanity, whatever it’s called these days, just make the darn games interesting. Do fans fret over whether Derek Fisher and this concocted New York (14-16) roster are mediocre, at best? Does Spike Lee care if Chi-Raq or whatever he cranks out breaks even at the box office, or gets three stars from critics, anymore? All that matters, for now, is give Knicks fans a decent reason to watch.
The Porzstar (23 points, 13 rebounds @ CLE on Dec. 23) is doing all of that, and more. Judging from the reactions of the Gotham populace, one would think he was doing much more than averaging 13.3 PPG while shooting 42.5% from the floor (making roughly a third of his threes). But on a team that’s spent multiple seasons with players merely going through the motions, Porzingis’ 8.2 RPG (2.2 offensive) and 2.0 BPG shows he is putting forward the effort, and has the attitude to kick any mistaken aspersions of cottony Euro-softness to the proverbial curb. He’ll see to it that this ain’t Frederic Weis Redux, or Andrea Bargnani Junior.
Carmelo Anthony has to feel like it’s Christmas morning each time he steps onto the floor. He’s scoring the fewest points per game (21.8 PPG) since his sophomore campaign in Denver, while shooting a career low 42.1 FG%. But nobody cares. All eyes aren’t on him anymore. There’s no need to be Manhattan’s LeBron. Plus, he doesn’t have to wear himself out at the 4-spot anymore, so long as Porzingis and Robin Lopez (7.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.1 BPG, and 48.5 FG%, lowest in past four seasons) are hanging around.
The Knicks’ leading scorer injured his ankle on Monday in the Knicks’ loss to New York, sat out Wednesday’s loss in Cleveland, and might rest again as the Knicks embark on a 3-games-in-4-nights swing. But who cares, really? Nobody’s freaking out about the 31-year-old’s salary pushing $25-million over the next two seasons, or questioning if he deserves to be an All-Star starter, or an All-Star at all, or whether he wants to be traded, or the missus’ Twitter-pinions about anything. If he can contribute tonight, tomorrow, or next season, that’s really swell. If not, oh, well! The Bright Lights of the Bigger City now shine on Porzingis, and Melo couldn’t be happier.
After a lost first season at the helm, Fisher has his future star here with Melo, Jose Calderon, Arron Afflalo, and Lopez, and all of them are sorting out this whole Triangle thingie together. They are quite content with keeping the pace low (24th in NBA) and finding the best long-range shot they can get near the end of the shot clock, so it’s not much of a surprise that despite Porzingis and Lopez’s talents the Knicks rank last in the league with 33.6 PPG in-the-paint.
Being out-scored by over 10 PPG in-the-paint won’t help against the Hawks, who oppose the Knicks three times over the next five games and whose 52.4 PPG in-the-paint since starting their five-game win streak on Dec. 16 ranks 3rd in the league. That’s unless Atlanta (19-12) suffers once again from the post-holiday blahs.
Spirits were merry and bright for the Hawks last year at this same time, riding a five game win streak and a spiffy 21-7 record into a post-Christmas home game against Milwaukee. That was before Jared Dudley put some coal in their stockings, Atlanta disappointing upbeat fans with a 30-point letdown. At that time, though, there was no sense that a 19-game win streak and heightened expectations would follow.
A year later, Atlanta has to come out tonight playing strong perimeter defense, versus everyone from Melo and Porzingis to Sasha Vujacic and Lance Thomas, and keeping the Knicks from a bunch of extra-chances. The struggle for New York is greater without Kyle O’Quinn, perhaps their top-performing defensive big man, who remains questionable with an ankle injury.
If you’re Kyle Korver (3-for-5 3FGs @ NYK on Oct. 29), chances are Arron Afflalo and the Knicks’ opposing guards will Forget You are open for jumpers, and you have to take advantage when the ball comes your way. Jeff Teague (team-high 23 points, 9-for-10 FTs @ NYK on Oct. 29) bounced back with a magnificent game against the Pistons (team-high 23 points, 9 assists, 4 steals, 2 TOs) on Wednesday. Teague has to bring the same level of energy, and when on the occasions when they are bottled up in the paint, they have to be mindful of open shooters like Korver and Kent Bazemore, and not force interior shots.
They’re the flagship NBA team of America’s biggest market, and have not one NBA title in the past 40 years to show for their trouble. At this point, the Knicks’ fans simply don’t worry about winning the next game or the next ring, so long as their team shows some competitive fire from night to night. Does that make them Crazy? Possibly. But who cares?
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
