A few hours after Kristaps Porzingis was establishing himself yet again as a reliable, go-to scorer and getting the Knicks won-loss record above .500, Carmelo Anthony was being thrown out of a game in Portland while Oklahoma City was falling one-game under .500.
Advantage, Knicks. For now.
A week after outclassing LeBron James and the Cavs in Cleveland, the Knicks had another watershed moment on Sunday against Indiana. Porzingis scored a career-high 40 points in the come-from-behind victory and rookie Frank Ntilikina established his career-high with 10 points and seven assists.
Somewhere, Phil Jackson is smiling.
This is a small sample size, absolutely. And we've seen promising starts from the Knicks deteriorate into meaningless seasons in the blink of an eye. But thus far the transition from Carmelo to Kristaps has gone relatively well for the star-crossed franchise.
The Knicks' 0-3 start was troubling, but since then Jeff Hornacek's team has won five of six games entering Tuesday's home date with the Charlotte Hornets. Porzingis has been the catalyst; he has seven 30-point performances in nine games this season. Also, his 272 points through the first nine games is a franchise record.
"I said my goals for the season were most-improved player of the year," Porzingis said. "I felt like I had an opportunity also not exactly this year _ I want to get it this year in my career, I think I have the opportunity to win defensive player of the year and also the All-Star Game is a goal for me individually. But all those things are going to come if we win games. All that stuff is going to come individually for us if we win, so I'm happy as long as we're playing this way."
Porzingis publicly supported Anthony remaining in New York, but there was a part of him that was excited about the challenge of being the Knicks' lead player if and when Anthony was traded.
Porzingis, now in his third-year, carries himself like a superstar and believes he's an All Star. And at this rate, he'll make his first All-Star team in February, especially with Anthony, Jimmy Butler and Paul George moving west over the summer.
But being a franchise player is more than leading the team in scoring and being the voice in the locker room. It's about doing it consistently, being durable and winning games. And in time, Porzingis will get to prove he has all those qualities.
"I think I got a lot better this summer, just the strength and also just the confidence knowing that I'm going to get more opportunities," Porzingis said. "I think the hard work is paying off."
People close to Porzingis say that he often compares his progress to that of Minnesota's Karl Anthony-Towns, who was the first-overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. If the draft were held today, it would be a tough decision choosing between Towns and Porzingis, who was selected fourth overall after D'Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor. Russell is already on his second team, and Okafor, who has fallen out of favor with the Sixers, is expected to be traded soon.
Things have gone differently for Towns and Porzingis. Towns, who is also seeking his first All-Star Game selection, has led Minnesota to a 7-3 record. It's the first time in 10 years that the Timberwolves are four games over .500.
But Minnesota added proven players to its roster during the offseason, including Butler. When Butler starts, the Wolves are 5-1. Towns, like Porzingis, is still developing, but he has more talent around him.
For the Knicks to be a playoff team, Porzingis, who has missed 26 games over his first two NBA seasons, will need to play in 70-plus games. And he'll have to play at a high level on most nights.
But there's no doubt the league is taking notice, and thus teams will start to throw two and three defenders at Porzingis more often to get the ball out of his hands. That's the treatment Anthony received on a nightly basis.
Now, Porzingis is a marked man. And loving every minute of it.
