New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis may be one of the toughest players to guard in the NBA today. His rare combination of height and extended shooting range makes him a matchup nightmare for opposing coaches.
But during the team's back-to-back set last Tuesday and Wednesday, things did not go particularly well for the 7-foot-3 Latvian. He got benched in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons and was held scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting versus the Houston Rockets.
Head coach Jeff Hornacek took the blame for his power forward's struggles and admitted that they have not been doing a good job in giving him the ball especially during mismatches and also discussed his decision to bench him in that quarter. Per Marc Berman of The New York Post:
“We got to do a better job, getting him the ball in a mismatch. “If he’s against a smaller guy, we’re not necessarily looking for him. We have to find that mismatch.’’
“Kris played the whole third quarter. In the fourth quarter we were getting stops, playing great defense, we just didn’t make the shots. You can look back afterward and say yeah, I could’ve put him back in a few minutes earlier. Maybe we would’ve gotten more scoring, but maybe we wouldn’t have played as good a defense.’’
“Sometimes it’s tough. The guy’s 7-3. He can do things that 6-7 guys can’t do in terms of blocking shots. And 6-7 guys can do things he can’t do, like closing out on guys. It’s going to be a balance who’s out there. He’s not used to guarding other guys that size. We try not to put him in situations like that.’’
Porzingis was clearly frustrated that he was not able to be on the court and contribute to the team. He did not take the benching lightly and felt that he should have been played.
“I believe so. I don’t think my defense is bad, I think I can protect the rim and guard a guy like [Ryan] Anderson. At any point of game, I want to be on the floor and help the team defensively and offensively.”
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