Kristaps Porzingis is healthy, and the Mavericks have no answer for him whatsoever

Kristaps Porzingis played coy when reporters asked him if he was at 100% leading into the NBA Finals. “Good question,” he said, reportedly with a smile on his face. “I don’t know. We’ll see.” The former All-Star missed Boston’s last 10 games with a calf strain, and his health was the single most significant story leading into the highly anticipated matchup between the Celtics and his former team, the Dallas Mavericks. 

Boston had gone 9-1 without him in the postseason, but largely did so against weaker, injury-riddled opponents in the Eastern Conference. Dallas represented an entirely different sort of challenge, one specifically geared towards punishing an ailing big man. Luka Doncic is perhaps the greatest pick-and-roll player in NBA history. If he senses a weak link in a defense, like, say, a 7-foot-2 center playing on one leg, he has no qualms about picking at it for an entire game or even series. 

Sure enough, when Porzingis checked in to Game 1 with a bit more than seven minutes remaining in the first quarter, Doncic tested his former teammate. He called P.J. Washington, whom Porzingis was guarding, over to set a screen. He hoped to hunt a switch against Porzingis. Instead, he read an impending double, split it before Porzingis could get in position, and finished with an acrobatic layup.

In that moment, some of Boston’s fears looked like they’d been realized. Porzingis was too slow. Doncic punished him for it. Teams have lost series against Dallas for less. Fortunately, it was an isolated incident. Let’s check and see how mobile Porzingis looked by the end of the first quarter…

Yeah, when a 7-foot-2 center is running cross-court with a guard for a transition block and swatting Kyrie Irving while moving laterally, he’s probably about as close to full strength as his team could have reasonably hoped in June. His numbers for the night tell that tale: in 21 minutes, Porzingis finished with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks. He was sensational on both ends of the floor, proving not only why so many viewed him as the…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/kristaps-porzingis-is-healthy-and-the-mavericks-have-no-answer-for-him-whatsoever/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-07 05:58:40

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