Knicks' Kristaps Porzingis speaks after practice Monday. Steve Popper/NorthJersey.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Most of the Knicks had departed long before as Kristaps Porzingis worked his way around an assortment of shooting drills with assistant coach Dave Bliss at the Olympic Club, firing shot after shot into a device that reduced the size of the rim and his margin for error.
He had struggled of late even on the regulation rim and focusing his precision shooting seemed about right as he was facing an interesting day approaching.
Before game time arrives Tuesday night in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors he will find out if he has earned a spot as a reserve on the Eastern Conference All-Stars with the coach’s vote announced.
And then whether he makes it or not he will line up for the toughest challenge he has faced in his brief NBA career, taking on Draymond Green. While Green has the credentials on paper as the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, he also has created a rivalry, engaging in a war of words that the soft-spoken Porzingis has avoided with any other opponent.
Last year before facing the Warriors, Porzingis spoke of his rookie struggles against Green, commenting, “Last season, right after the game was over I was thinking when was the next time we were going to get a chance to play against them. I’m ready for him.”
Green used that as motivation, noting, “(Porzingis’ words) kind of pissed me off and made me want to go a little harder this game and guard him. I like the passion, I like the dog that he has, I like that you want to see me again, but keep that to yourself. Don’t let everybody know that you’re going after me. I guess we’re going to go after each other. That’s fine. ... I was a little in la-la land and that immediately pissed me off. I think (Porzingis) is a great player. I think he will continue to get better and better, but that made it real personal.”
The words turned in a different direction this summer when Porzingis tweeted and then deleted, “LA Clippers” followed by three smiling emojis. He then tweeted that he was hacked. But Green, who had his own case of claiming to be hacked and then admitting he wasn’t, took that as an opportunity to tweak Porzingis.
“Listen, man. I had an episode on social media this summer and the first thing I said was that I was hacked. Then I thought about it and I said, I wasn’t hacked,” Green said on his “Dray Day” podcast. “Kristaps, I’m sorry, but no one believes you. You weren’t hacked. You’re trying to go to the Clippers. Kristaps, you lyin’ bro. You weren’t hacked. Maybe you was drunk, and your true feelings came out, and you tweeted your true feelings. But you weren’t hacked my man. Trust me.”
Porzingis avoided adding any fuel to the rivalry when he finally finished working out Monday. The Knicks have their hands full already, coming off a humiliating 20-point loss to a shorthanded Lakers squad and now facing the Warriors, who lost in Houston Saturday and have a chip on their shoulders after Houston players claimed to be the best team in the NBA.
“It’s just competitiveness,” he said of the back and forth from Green. “That’s what it is. I wish to get to that type of level that they’re at right now. That’s the goal.
“It was more just like me talking and you guys spin it one way and it sounded different. But it’s all good. It’s just, that’s what makes it entertaining for the fans. They want to see those matchups. They want to see how this guy’s going to play against that guy, whatever. This just helped build that up.”
Porzingis had praise for Green on the court when asked if he is the toughest defender he has faced, although he wouldn’t claim him to be the one.
“I don’t know. It’s a good question,” Porzingis said. “There are a lot of good defenders in the league and a lot of good team defenses. So to say one guy in particular, I don’t know. He’s solid. He’s solid. Obviously he was defensive player of the year for a reason. And they’re a top team. So they’re physical, they play good basketball. “
Since returning from a knee injury on December 21 Porzingis has shot just 39.2 percent, averaging 20.2 points per game over that span after starting the season on fire and drawing deserved MVP chants. Against the Warriors over his first two seasons he has averaged just 12 points per game on 32.1 percent shooting while Green has averaged nearly a triple double against Porzingis with 11 points, 7.8 assists and 9.8 rebounds on 47 percent shooting.
While the hope was that the return of Tim Hardaway Jr. would take some of the pressure off of him he has still struggled offensively.
“I want to shoot the ball better,” Porzingis said. “I think it’s more just me forcing things. Now I’m trying to get better shots, just better looks. Also, this can help from a precision, there are open looks that I’ve missed. I want to get better. Just whatever I can do to be better.”
“Porzingis is a pretty young player,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the Warriors practice in Oakland. “Draymond is a unique defender with a combination of size and quickness, can get underneath a dribbler. Last time we played Porzingis he was a little bit better, he started to adapt. He’s a young player and Draymond is a great defender.”
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