KRISTAPS GETS HIS REVENGE
Garden boos former Knick but slam seals Mavs’ victory
A game that started with a crowd united in its hatred of Kristaps Porzingis ended with the Latvian punctuating a Dallas victory with a dunk along the baseline.
Porzingis didn’t have a big game in his return to the Garden, and he didn’t need to because Luka Doncic buried the Knicks in the fourth quarter of Friday’s 99-86 win.
Porzingis, still the enemy of Knicks fans for requesting a trade over two years ago, was booed throughout. He wasn’t shocked.
“The reaction was what I expected, of course,” Porzingis said. “I’m happy we got the win.”
Capacity crowd at MSG was only about 2,000 because of COVID restrictions but it still managed a loud “KP sucks” during lineup introductions. The chant continued into the first quarter, and it might’ve represented the loudest – most unified – noise from Knicks fans since they were allowed back inside.
Porzingis seemed rattled, just like his previous appearance at MSG, when the vitriol was even worse. He missed his first shot badly. He missed his second shot. He missed six of his first seven.
Porzingis eventually caught enough of a rhythm to complete a respectable, albeit hardly impressive, stat line: 14 points, eight rebounds, 6-for-17 shooting. The boos and chants faded as the Mavericks took control of the game, sending the Knicks to a three-game losing streak for the first time since January. Porzingis’ final bucket was an alley-oop jam with 37 seconds left, giving Dallas a 14-point advantage.
Derrick Rose, who was Porzingis’ teammate in New York, said it was weird to hear the crowd’s reaction, but he understood – and could even relate.
“When you think about the situation it wasn’t an easy situation for both sides, with him wanting to leave and with them, the fans felt like they put their all into him by supporting him,” said Rose, who was traded from the Bulls to the Knicks in 2016. “I get it. I was in a similar situation when I left Chicago. People felt like it was me.”
The theatrics of a Porzingis appearance at MSG aside, Friday’s game boiled down to this: Dallas’ AllStar severely outplaying New York’s.
Doncic dropped 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He keyed Dallas’ 12-0 fateful run in the fourth quarter, transforming the game from a nail-biter to a Mavericks cruise.
Julius Randle, on the other hand, missed 15 of his 20 shots and finished with just 14 points. The heavy minutes seem to be catching up with Randle. He and RJ Barrett combined to shoot 8-for-31.
“I don’t know if they’re banged up. I think that we’re at a point in the season where if you play this many games, every player in the league has something right now,” Tom Thibodeau said. “That’s pro sports. We have to manage that, we have to play better. Right now, we’re in a little bit of a funk and we’ve got to work our way out of it.”
New York was at full strength minus Mitchell Robinson, who is out indefinitely with a broken foot. Rose and Reggie Bullock returned after missing the previous contest, an embarrassing loss to the lowly Timberwolves.
The first half produced an unlikely hero for the Knicks, Obi Toppin, who has struggled mightily as a rookie but had nine points in seven second-quarter minutes. The highlight was a putback jam that sent New York’s bench into a frenzy. Porzingis was defending in the area of the jam, adding to the play’s excitement. But Toppin only played four minutes in the second half and didn’t score.
GM Scott Perry remains from the regime that sent Porzingis to Dallas, but the latest iteration of the Knicks braintrust can largely wash their hands of the deal. They’re reaping the benefits of the cap space that signed Randle, and the two future first-round picks from the Mavericks. But it was largely a bust because, among other reasons, the two best players who were part of the deal – Porzingis and Tim Hardaway – still play in Dallas.
Hardaway scored 14 points in his former home arena Friday.
“(Porzingis) is a good player, a terrific talent,” Thibodeau said. “They’re an excellent team. And we feel good about the people that we have.”
CARLISLE HAS COVID
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle wasn’t in attendance because of a positive COVID test. Carlisle, 61, said he was asymptomatic and fully vaccinated since January. So he was skeptical about the test result.