The crowded crowd in Madison Square Garden is, of course, the first thing you notice, because blissful, pre-pandemic scenes always make people think of memories of life. The next thing you see on this Kristaps Porzingis band is his extreme skill and athleticism as he breaks away from the most athletic player in the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo holds Porzingis ‘jersey like a middle-aged weekend fighter at local Y. Trey Burke examines the Bucks’ franchise player at the left elbow, and his 7-foot-3 teammate frees him from the defender above the foul line prepared to take a pass from Kyle O’Quinn.
But when the Bucks’ Jason Terry jumps into the passing lane, the Unicorn does a very Unicorn-like thing: he stops on a double like a wide receiver coming out of a break, splitting Terry and Antetokounmpo on a hard dive into the basket, and take Quinn’s reflection into the air for a high-flying dunk over the Greek Freak while camera lights flash around them.
The basket put the home team up 31-30 with 8:51 left in the second quarter. The Knicks had a 23-31 record entering the game on February 6, 2018, and are expected to miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year. But fans of that night still had the 22-year-old Porzingis in the air, posting the Freak on his way to his first All-Star Game as a proud member of Team LeBron. If you can not sell wins to your customers, you can probably sell that kind of hope.
Just like the most recent incentives of Knick’s prosperity – Linsanity in 2012, Melo’s 54-win season next year – this one ended way too quickly. In fact, it took about two seconds after the dunk took over Antetokounmpo before a fallen Porzingis grabbed at his left knee. The fans could not even get out of their seats until their pleasure ended up in a mess.
No cartoonist that night would ever think he or she was watching the last performance of the Porzingis Passion Play in New York. From court, nearly a year later, the injured Knick walked into Steve Mills’ office and told team president and general manager Scott Perry that he wanted to, and that if they did not exchange him, he would leave for Europe. The Knicks entered into the agreement with the Mavericks, which sent Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, and two picks back in the first round. Oh, and DeAndre Jordan, who was supposed to help persuade his Olympic teammates and friends Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to fill the Knicks’ expanded headroom.
Instead, Jordan joined Durant and Irving in Brooklyn and placed a rotten cherry on top of a summer that looks a little better than the Knicks’ decision to buy Porzingis than Charlotte’s decision to tackle Kobe Bryant in 1996. . Over time, after the Knicks signed Julius Randle. with some of the cash they saved for KD and Irving, the trade seemed less disastrous. Randle, who is only eight months older than Porzingis, competed in Dallas on Friday night (23.2-20.7) and surpassed him (10.6-9.3), although the star of the Mavs beat his peer in the efficiency of players (22.26). -19.73). And Marcus Morris, another signer of 2019, was traded for a late pick in the first round that ultimately helped the Knicks land Immanuel Quickley.
Smith was a disaster, and although Porzingis was a high level of Maverick when he was healthy, and while teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. 95 games started, the three players the Knicks received in the deal were all employed by other teams.
But if Randle establishes himself in the coming years as a healthier, more productive power forward than Porzingis, and if the Knicks hit at least one of the two Dallas concessions, hear, the Porzingis trade will not be such a success. apocalyptic event yet. Eventually the Knicks should have called KP’s European bluff (the way the Nets should have called Kobe’s European bluff before they let him go to the Lakers via Charlotte), and gambled that his injury history would have forced him to sign up for a long-term run in New York. Time will tell.
In the meantime, if you’re a fan who wants to remember how the Knicks first started developing a concept choice in a star since they were the gifted Patrick Ewing, check out the video of Porzingis’ last garden game. Stop it just after the dunk sequel on the Freak, before the fall and the grab and the fist hitting the floor.
Freeze it right there, in the air, and remember a fleeting moment of Knicks ecstasy before another few long winters of Knicks pain.