NEW YORK — The Boston Celtics were the first team to break out the tactic.
It was a January night at Madison Square, and rookie big man Kristaps Porzingis, thanks to an array of deep bombs and silky jumpers, was torching the visitors to the tune of 20 first-half points. In the locker room prior to the third quarter, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens decided to try something that after the game he’d call “kind of crazy"—slotting 6”4’ guard Marcus Smart onto the Knicks’ 7”3 dynamo.
Smart responded by getting up in Porzingis’ chest. His foot speed took away the advantage Porzingis so often had when facing lumbering bigs. The comfort he had defending away from the basket was something Porzingis had rarely faced.
The Knicks tried to answer by featuring Porzingis in the post, but that didn’t work either. He struggled getting position. The few times he did get the ball, he looked unsure of how to attack. He got off just six shots in the second half and connected on only three of them.
Nearly a decade earlier, NBA coaches had discovered that smaller a ...
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Article written by Yaron Weitzman
The Secret to Kristaps Porzingis’ Evolution
November 23rd, 2016 by Yaron Weitzman Leave a reply »
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