Porzingis to Suns: Who’s your daddy?

Kristaps Porzingis reached over the back of a driving Josh Jackson and swatted away the ball, starting the Knicks the other way.

The anticipation grew inside the Garden as Porzingis sprinted to catch up to his teammates, and the crowd then erupted when Jarrett Jack found him for an emphatic dunk and a three-point play to complete the scintillating sequence and essentially seal the Knicks’ 120-107 home victory on Friday night over Phoenix.

“I loved that play,” Porzingis beamed afterward. “Honestly, just the energy that was in the Garden at that moment, it was unbelievable. I had to calm myself down to knock down the free throw.”

In case any doubts were planted earlier this week by his brother/agent, Porzingis professed his love for New York before the game, and the still-smitten Garden certainly requited in kind.

Porzingis netted 37 points, one shy of the career-high he’d established just two games earlier, as the Knicks regrouped quickly from Wednesday’s blowout loss to Houston.

“Porzingis is special,” said former Knicks big man Tyson Chandler. “He has a chance to be the best player in this league.”

Enes Kanter also contributed 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Tim Hardaway Jr. added 21 points for the Knicks, who have won four of five games since an 0-3 start.

But this marked the sixth time in eight games this season that Porzingis, who again heard frequent chants of “M-V-P” from the home crowd and left to a standing ovation, has recorded at least 30 points.

“I’m getting better as a player. I can feel that,” said Porzingis, who battled a stomach virus on Thursday. “I can read more things. The game slows down for me a little bit. I’m learning how to draw more fouls, which is important to get to the line.

“I’m growing as a player and I think that’s helping the team.”

Before the game, the 7-foot-3 forward held a damage-control scrum with the media to address an interview his brother Janis had granted to a Latvian magazine this week in which he intimated that his younger sibling eventually would consider bolting New York if he’s unhappy with the direction of the team when he’s eligible to become a restricted free agent in 2019.

Janis Porzingis also suggested that Kristaps’ infamous skipping of his exit meeting with thenpresident Phil Jackson last spring was to enact change in the organization because since-traded All-Star Carmelo Anthony “and people around him never tried to change anything.”

While suggesting the translated quotes on both fronts were “taken out of context,” Porzingis insisted he loves New York and that he sees himself “as a Knick for a long, long time.”

“I don’t think (the fans) should be worried about that,” he added.

No one inside the Garden appeared especially concerned as Porzingis came out firing and netted 10 quick points on a combination of jumpers and drives before the game was seven minutes old.

“He’s a force in there,” Jeff Hornacek said. “He’s just taking his time. He knows and realizes he can shoot over the top of people, and he’s not trying to do too much…I think the game has slowed down for him. He realizes it.”

With Phoenix missing 22 of its first 27 shots, the cruising Knicks were up by as many as 21 early in the second quarter before reaching the half with a 65-50 advantage. The Suns cut the deficit to six on a dunk by Chandler four minutes into the third but never got closer.

That largely was due to the player Chandler suggested could be on his way to becoming the game’s best.

“I don’t really care about that that much. All I need is the respect from refs to get those calls,” Porzingis joked. “I’m just playing basketball.

“I’m keeping it simple for myself, playing my game, doing the things I know how to do.

“But it’s nice to hear those kind of words from a (former NBA) Defensive Player of the Year. It’s nice to hear.”

Just as it had to be nice for Porzingis to hear and feel the love from the home crowd after he’d sworn his allegiance to New York earlier in the day.