Knicks starting to figure it out

When Kristaps Porzingis exploded on the scene last year, a 7-foot-3 phenom who had the promise to provide a long career of what flashed through Madison Square Garden in the blur of Linsanity, it was hard to imagine that it wouldn’t always be that way.

But as the New York Knicks rebuilt the roster this summer, securing veteran stars to fill out the lineup around Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony, even his size didn’t stop him from disappearing at times. He wasn’t the story every night off the court and he wasn’t the center of attention on it.

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That led to nights such as Wednesday when Porzingis didn’t have a single field goal in a one-sided loss to Houston, missing all four of his shots and scoring three points. His defensive failings already had drawn the scrutiny of his new coach and now he was nearly invisible on offense. And it was hard to imagine that this could happen, but it did.

"Maybe it’s like a reality check," Porzingis said. "Kind of, things were going my way but I can’t get too comfortable. I’ve got to be always better, I’ve got to be aggressive."

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That brought him to Chicago on Friday night, arriving quietly once again with the attention focused on Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah returning to the United Center to face the team that had been their home for their entire professional careers. Not just that, but the team was also questioning itself, struggling to fit together.

But suddenly, as quickly as he had vanished, Porzingis was back. He scored a team-high 27 points in helping the Knicks to a much-needed win. Even with an assortment of three-point field goals, aggressive dunks and athletic drives to the rim, Porzingis still was a sideshow to the Chicago homecoming. But he was back.

"I believe that’s not what I’m really focused on," Porzingis said. "We play good as a group and my individual success will come.

"I wanted to be more aggressive. I wanted to let the game come to me and not take any bad shots. Just get my own rhythm and my teammates were finding me and I was in the right position. It was just all clicking. We had 30-plus assists. That shows that we played good basketball, we shared the ball, and that’s when we’re at our best."

It’s still hard to know what the best can be for this team with the preseason lost with Rose missing most of it while attending a trial in Los Angeles. The regular season has shown that, a struggle to fit the new pieces together in a system still foreign to most of the players.

"I mean, yeah, but it takes time, you know?" Rose said. "All this takes time. Us moving the ball, us spreading the floor, the space of everyone with me having the patience to wait until everyone gets in the spots before we actually run the offense. Defensively, making sure the bigs are talking to us. Little things like that [other] teams have.

"With us we’ve been trying to figure them things out. It takes time and it takes time for us to have that open communication with one another out there, being able to argue with each other or say something and not taking offense by it or not being hurt by it. It takes time. … Everybody loves winning, you know, so that’s the great thing about it."

What the Knicks figured out on this night was something that coach Jeff Hornacek has preached since the start of camp. Last season teams adjusted to Porzingis, putting smaller, more athletic defenders on him.

Hornacek wanted a counter to that and Friday it was on display with Porzingis attacking when the Bulls switched and he wound up with Rajon Rondo or Jimmy Butler trying to defend him.

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"I think it’s something that we all realize that we have to use those mismatches when we have them, whether it’s me, ’Melo or whoever it is," Porzingis said. "I don’t know if teammates reacted to that or they just knew. I guess it’s just reading the game.

"Teammates were able to find me and get me in good positions where I could shoot over those guys. I think we did really good when they switched on me with a guard. They gave the ball to me inside, the spacing was good and I got easy baskets."

It was one night, but it was a step forward and one back into the spotlight for Porzingis.

Email: popper@northjersey.com