Schmeelk: Knicks Fans Get Glimpse Into Future -- And It Was Wonderful
By John Schmeelk
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For a moment Wednesday night, the breath went out of every fan at Madison Square Garden.
Brandon Jennings sent a (poorly thrown) alley-oop to Kristaps Porzingis, who still managed to throw down the dunk. The Garden erupted, but a second later it went silent as Porzingis hit the floor, one of his impossibly long legs trapped underneath him. Everyone froze for just a moment until the Knicks' "Unicorn" got up and went to the free-throw line, looking completely unscathed. Everyone was able to breathe again.
When you look at the Knicks' roster, what you see is pretty clear. Carmelo Anthony, Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah are all over 30 years old. Derrick Rose and Jennings are on one-year contracts. The only significant part of the Knicks' future that is on this roster might be Porzingis. And on Wednesday he showed Knicks fans just how glorious that future might be.
We've seen Porzingis have great offensive games before, but we have never seen him pull out the complete repertoire like he did in the 105-102 win over Detroit. He hit catch-and-shoot 3's. He hit step-back jumpers off the dribble. He crossed over defenders with his dribble and created space for pull-up jumpers. He took slower defenders off the dribble and got to the rim. He spun left and right into unguardable fadeaway jumpers. He posted up smaller players down low. He dominated the midpost. He showed an up-and-under move (even if he inexplicably didn't take a wide-open layup off of it). He unleashed a jump hook. He drew fouls. He followed missed shots with thunderous dunks. He even swatted a shot late in the fourth quarter for good measure. He was everywhere and everything.
Oh, by the way, the same player who was capable of doing all those different things is 7-foot-3 and only 21 years old. Even if the Phil Jackson regime ends up being a failure, he will have given Knicks fans Porzingis, who on Wednesday night showed what his potential could be like when he puts it all together in the next couple years -- a player who is too big for forwards to defend but too athletic for centers to guard. He showed the ability to create his own shot, something he still doesn't do consistently. He looked like a superstar, something the Knicks hope he grows into.
His stat line: 35 points, 12-of-22 on field goals, 3-of-7 from 3-point range, 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, seven rebounds, three assists and one block.
At times this season, Porzingis has looked like the best player on the floor for the Knicks. He has the best true shooting percentage on the team by more than 4 percent. Besides the seldom-used Maurice Ndour, it's the same for effective field goal percentage. He has the best player efficiency rating on the team. His teammates are going to him more and more, with his usage even with Derrick Rose and behind only Carmelo Anthony.
There are still plenty of things for Porzingis to work on. His defense in space has taken a step back from last season. He leaves his feet too much on shot fakes. He still gets pushed around on the post. He's still inconsistent with creating high-percentage shots on his own. He doesn't rebound consistently. But these are all things that he'll get better at over time given his work habits and basketball IQ.
Knicks fans haven't had the chance to watch a great drafted young player grow at Madison Square Garden since Patrick Ewing arrived more than 30 years ago. They have that in Porzingis. The ride is going to be a lot of fun, and Knicks fans hope that at the end will be a NBA championship.
Schmeelk's Snippets
Disturbingly, despite Porzingis' great performance, the Knicks still almost managed to lose the game due to poor defense and poor play at the end of the fourth quarter. Rather than continuing to run their offense, the Knicks tried to run out the clock the final four minutes of the game. Then due to bad communication on a screen (something that has happened all year), the Pistons attempted a wide-open 3 to tie the game at the buzzer, but missed. A win is a win, but that got far too close at the end for the Knicks liking.
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