Kristaps Porzingis bounced back with a strong performance after a disappointing first game of EuroBasket action. The Lavian star dropped 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks on a perfect 8/8 inside the arc in a nail-biting victory over their Baltic neighbor.
Porzingis was too much for this Estonia team to handle, creating excellent looks in the paint with his famous combination of post moves, guard skills, and three-level scoring. While the three point shot wasn't falling, he was able to generate open looks both using his self-creation ability and within the flow of the offense.
Porzingis initially struggled against the Estonian approach to guarding him. Estonia's tallest player is just shy of 6'10, meaning post ups played straight up would give Porzingis a clear advantage. To prevent this, Estonia applied heavy pressure to Porzingis in the paint. He picked up three quick turnovers in a scary opening quarter before solving the Estonian defense and cruising to a dominant perfrmance.
The EuroBasket tournament is the perfect way for Porzingis to ramp up for his first season in Atlanta. He suffered from post-viral syndrome last postseason, which left him in poor physical shape. Porzingis was candid about the effects of his illness when it happened, saying "I'm not feeling my best." He elaborated after losing in a series-clinching Game 6 with, "even right now, I played 11 minutes and I'm gassed. I could just lay down right here and take a little nap, easy.".
Hawks fans can take a sigh of relief, as Porzingis looks like his former self. He has rust to shake off, but crucially, he is physically fit and looks like himself on the floor.
Porzingis continues to build towards a long regular season
Before EuroBasket, Porzingis spoke to a Latvian media outlet, saying that he feels much better after working in the off-season to recover his pre-illness fitness levels. Through two games, Porzingis's fitness does not appear to be an issue.
In his first EuroBasket outing against Turkey, Porzingis struggled to get any momentum going. However, he played the most minutes of anybody on the Latvian team. While you would hope for a good game, what’s most important is that Porzingis is healthy, and he’s proven to be fit.
This game was just what Hawks fans needed to see. After proving he was fit enough to start his season, Porzingis still had to prove that he is one of the best centers in the NBA. Porzingis took the most of his opportunity to regain his confidence against a weak Estonian center corps.
Porzingis has room for improvement, shooting 0/4 from three and turning the ball over 7 times yesterday. Both of these performances need to be improved upon, but this will come with time and game-speed reps. What is most important is that Porzingis is fit and back to his dominant self.