Kristaps Porzingis admits it's still a transition to get back into playing form after missing a year-and-a-half with a torn ACL injury that saw him miss the entire 2018-19 season. The Dallas Mavericks forward argues the toughest thing to gain back in the instinctive feel for the game, something he's been looking to regain through the early stretch of the 2019-20 season.
“Just the feel for the game,” Porzingis told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “I played a lot of pickup in the offseason and I was trying to find my rhythm and then all the little details about the game, the contact, where the contact is going to come and game feel, decision making, and the speed is different in the game. That's the thing that I have to still keep getting used to.”
Patience is a tough-to-come virtue, and Porzingis needs it — yet he knows the game will eventually come to him with more repetition:
“I want it now,” said Porzingis. “I know it's going to come, but I want it now. I want to play well now and make all the right decisions. Even when you're in rhythm and even when you've been playing you don't always make the right decision on the court. It's normal that I make mistakes, but I'm happy the last game [against New York] I felt far more comfortable out there. I'll let the game come to me more and I was aggressive, but I was relaxed at the same time. So I think it's coming, it's coming. It's only a matter of time.”
Porzingis called Dallas “a perfect match,” now able to play with a star on the rise in Luka Doncic and a Hall of Fame-caliber coach in Rick Carlisle — two assets that will eventually help him find his groove.
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