For yet another game, Kristaps Porzingis was an extraordinarily mortal and lethargic 7-foot-3 Latvian.
The face of the Knicks’ future again wore a shiner and a painted-on mustache. He shot a less-than-pedestrian 5-of-14 from the floor, scoring 16 points — 11 in the fourth quarter, when the game had long since been decided. So he was just one disappointing footnote in the 121-107 embarrassment administered by the young and struggling Lakers at the Garden.
It marked the fourth straight game and sixth in seven that Porzingis failed to shoot 50 percent from the floor. And it was his 12th straight game without scoring 20 points. Porzingis recently did have a one-game illness absence and a four-game stretch in which he sat with a sore left Achilles.
“I’m not feeling anything [with the Achilles]. I’m feeling good physically,” Porzingis said.
OK, then if not health, what’s up?
“He is still a high-caliber scorer when used properly and when they run plays for him,” said one NBA scout, who felt the Knicks played a faster pace last season, which was more beneficial to Porzingis’ game. “They’re at a slower pace. He was getting 3s as a trailer. How many do you see him get now?”
Suffice to say, not a bunch.
“This year, they’re paying more attention to me at the top of the key, so I’m not wide open any more that many times. I actually thought about it, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it lately,” said Porzingis, who for three quarters Monday was basically the world’s tallest coat rack. “It’s that and sometimes maybe I pass on that shot, and I keep swinging the ball, and I’ve got to take that shot.”
They could run more plays for him, but Monday that might have been an exercise in futility as the second-year player simply seemed disengaged.
Coach Jeff Hornacek was missing only visible steam from his ears over the way the Knicks played without the slightest trace of effort for far too long.
“You’ve got to play for some pride,” Hornacek said.
Porzingis did not argue or debate the point. He simply couldn’t. Teammates called the effort “embarrassing” and flat out “bad.” Porzingis fell in line.
“It started from the beginning. We just didn’t come out the right way,” said Porzingis, who did not excuse himself — in truth he couldn’t.
“Just not feeling involved, not being in rhythm,” Porzingis said of his first three quarters, in which he shot 2-of-9, scored five points with five rebounds and was a ghastly minus-27 on the floor — yup, that was the worst.
“I have to do a better job of picking the spots where I want to attack and picking the right moment when I need to attack,” Porzingis said. “Making shots. But I think at the end I was just more involved. A lot of times the ball was going through me and we were kind of playing a little more movement. So I think that’s the type of game I’m better at … a faster paced, moving the ball more around.”
Anything would be better than Monday.
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