The Atlanta Hawks, led by a spectacular performance from Kristaps Porzingis, cruised by the New Orleans Pelicans 115-98 in a Saturday night matchup in the bayou. Porzingis dropped 29 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks in 22 minutes of action against Hawk-for-a-day Derik Queen.
Queen was the player Atlanta technically drafted 13th in the 2025 draft – the rights to the pick were part of the since-infamous draft night trade. Queen has since blossomed into quite the intriguing rookie, but he was no match for Porzingis’s heroics Saturday night.
Porzingis showed Hawks fans why the team was willing to trade a first round pick for the Latvian big man against the Pelicans. He had an all-around performance, moving as well as we’ve seen all season on defense while finding the perfect balance between scoring and facilitating on offense.
His spot this season has been the high left post, right by the elbow. Porzingis stakes his ground there and uses his massive reach to create an easy entry pass for his perimeter teammates. Once the ball gets to KP, there is nothing opponents under seven feet tall can do. Porzingis doesn’t need to put the ball on the floor, pressure the paint, or anything else typical of a post possession – he simply turns around and rises over the smaller defender.
After Porzingis established his dominance on the high post, the Pelicans started playing his post possessions particularly aggressively. This immediately gave the Hawks two open buckets, one for Porzingis and one for Dyson Daniels. There is simply no way to guard Porzingis when he is actively looking to create his own shot in the high post.
Porzingis has had a quiet start to his Atlanta tenure, averaging an inefficient 17.2 points and 5.6 a night, with no defensive or rebounding impact to speak of. While the Pelicans pose little competitive threat to Porzingis and the Hawks, this performance was just what Hawks fans needed.
If Porzingis is playing poorly, the Hawks are doomed for yet another year of Play-In mediocrity. While Onyeka Okongwu’s surge has masked Porzingis’s struggles, the Hawks need him to be playing his best for the team to reach their goals.
Porzingis had quite the offseason, from being diagnosed with POTS to being traded to playing in EuroBasket, which encourages me to have a patient approach to his early-season struggles. If today was any indication, however, Porzingis could be back to his full abilities soon.