During his rookie year, New York Knicks‘ forward Kristaps Porzingis turned a lot of his doubters into believers with impressive play and a unique skill set. His rare combination of height with an extended shooting range made him one of the tougher matchups in all of the NBA.

However, even with his strong performances, two of his worst came against the Golden State Warriors while being defended by their All-Star forward, Draymond Green. In their first meeting, Porzingis had a miserable day from the field converting on only one out of his 11 attempts and finishing the game with just two points. In their next encounter, the 7-foot-3 Latvian played better but still produced lower than his average with 14 points on 3-of-8 shooting.

This season he vows to do better against Green and the 2015 champions. He recently talked about what ran through his mind after their first matchup and how much he looks forward to going up against him again.

“Right after the game was over (last season) I was thinking when was the next time we were going to get a chance to play against them.”

“I'm ready for him.”

Carmelo Anthony, who played with Green during the Rio Olympics last summer, also chimed in on his Knicks teammate and what he expects for their matchup with the Warriors on Thursday.

“He's going to try to be physical with him, he's going to talk the way Draymond talks. Don't feed into it. It's nothing personal. I've dealt with it all summer (on the Rio Olympic team). Just be ready for that. I'm pretty sure it's a matchup Draymond is looking forward to. And as a competitor like KP, he's looking forward to that matchup.”

It will interesting to see how Porzingis performs against the Dubs on Thursday night and if he stays true to his word that he is ready to battle one of the elite power forwards in the league today.