Aren’t Homecomings just the sweetest?
Tonight’s premiere NBA theatrics find themselves inside the “World’s Most Famous Arena”, or the Madison Square Garden, for short. Who the inhabitants of this historic venue are live in abhorrent infamy, back then and now, and aren’t quite the prime, step-right-up attraction of the town.
Yes, your treat as an NBA fan tonight is a Thursday-night matinee to see the New York Knicks play a basketball game. But tonight just isn’t any regular game, though.
It’s Kristaps Porzingis’ first real game inside the Garden since his ACL tear in early 2018. And, it’s kinda his first 48 minutes back on the Garden hardwood, but not in Knicks blue and orange.
And of course, who loves to profile nightly NBA drama more than Turner Sports, right? This evening’s contest between the Dallas Mavericks (6-4) and the New York Knicks (2-9) will be nationally broadcasted on TNT as a vehicle to really sell the story of the prodigal son of New York returning to the very franchise he spurned for greener grasses.
And during the team introductions, where it’s actually unclear if they’ll grace Porzingis with a “thanks for all you’ve done for us” scoreboard video, that story will be sold, no debate necessary.
The storyline coming into this four-quarter contest is probably going to be way better than what’s going to be taking place on the court. The Knicks are a mess, from top to bottom if we’re not beating around the bush. Their head coach is literally in waiting for his pink slip any day now, as Dave Fizdale has shown an inadequacy to spread minutes among his best players. Fans want both James Dolan and Steve Mills gone (and probably arrested for destroying heir franchise), but what else is new.
If there are any positives, RJ Barrett has had a solid rookie season, averaging 16 points a game and shooting at 35 percent from deep. Not bad, but obviously not enough to trudge the Knicks through their offensive woes that have dropped them to the bottom of the NBA.
And the worst of all, Knicks organizational members and Knicks infrastructure will be subjected to witnessing a rusty Porzingis shake off all that oxidation against a Knicks starting five that will have all the difficulty in the world in keeping him from looking like the Unicorn again.
And while on that topic, KP’s early-season troubles haven’t been that worrisome (18.3 ppg. off 40.1 percent shooting and 37.5 percent three-point shooting) considering that Luka Doncic has, more often than not, looked like one of the league’s most unstoppable forces. I mean, he’s already drawn expectations of being the Slovenian Larry Bird with how unbelievable he’s been in scoring, assisting, and playmaking.
Not only is he the youngest player in league history to record more than 12 Triple-Doubles, passing the likes of Magic Johnson and LeBron James (his idol), he’s making an increasingly undeniable case to be the best scorer on the planet.
In his second year. at 20 years old. Yeah.
In comparing how he stacks up against other MVP award nominees, the Slovenian Sniper is currently in the top 12 in the big three traditional statistical categories. He is averaging 28.3 points per game (5th in the league), 10.3 rebounds per game (12th in the league) and 9.1 assists per game (2nd in the league).
He is also averaging a steal a game and is shooting at an improved rate at just about everywhere on the court. Though the statistical proof says he isn’t as proficient from deep (31.8 percent) the rest of his current shooting percentages are at 48.5 percent from the field, 84.4% free throw and an impressive 62% from everywhere inside the arch.
To contextualize all of those stats, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league’s Most Valuable Player, is 4th on the NBA’s scoring leaders, 2nd in rebounding and 14th in assists through ten games. Luka is averaging more points per game than Kawhi Leonard, the most recent Finals MVP, and is 13 spots higher on the scoring list than LeBron James, sixteen places higher than the King on the rebounding chart and only trails James by a spot in assists.
Story short, Luka is probably going to go off tonight for another memorable away Garden performance, and the Knicks will be hard-pressed to find the answer to stop him.
When Porzingis’ name is announced, boos and cheers will ring and reverberate throughout the Garden’s woodwork and Knicks faithful have to go through seeing the guy they cheered and boasted for dismantle them on live television, but who knows, with these games this year, any upset or statistical anomaly can happen at the drop of the hat.
But probably not in this one.
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