Kristaps Porzingis Throws the Timberwolves a Block Party in 107-102 Victory!
By William Lee
27. Final. 102. 86. 107
Wednesday night, Madison Square Garden featured a battle between the two top rookies in the 2015 NBA draft.
Both Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns just won Rookie of the Month for their respective conference, for the month of October and November.
More from Daily Knicks
- Former New York Knicks center gets real about 2013 playoff shortcomings
- When is the deadline for the Knicks to extend Immanuel Quickley?
- 3 Rumored Knicks trade targets not worth giving up RJ Barrett for
- Bill Simmons ‘guarantees’ Knicks will have one of three stars by next year
- How to watch New York Knicks players compete for bronze at World Cup
Towns had a dominating performance, collecting his 11th double-double of the season with 25 points, 10 rebounds. Porzingis did not have as stellar of a night on offense as Towns, finishing the game with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists BUT did tear it up defensively with 7 blocks!
Porzingis threw the Minnesota Timberwolves a block party! Particularly in the first half, Porzingis was rejecting a shot every couple of minutes! Rejecting six shots in a dozen first-half minutes of play.
Porzingis though did have plenty of help from his teammates to claim the New York Knicks’ first victory, of what we all hope to be a meaningful 20-year rivalry between Porzingis and Towns. Superstar Carmelo Anthony just missed a triple-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 9 assists, while Arron Afflalo scored a game high 29 points to give New York a 107-102 victory over Minnesota. New York’s bench had a strong outing as well, with 38 points scored Wednesday night; led by Lance Thomas‘ 14 points off the bench.
The Knicks took complete control of the game by halftime, going on a 14-2 run to end the first half. The run gave New York a 60-40 lead at intermission.
More from Knicks News
- Former New York Knicks center gets real about 2013 playoff shortcomings
- When is the deadline for the Knicks to extend Immanuel Quickley?
- How to watch New York Knicks players compete for bronze at World Cup
- 3 Reasons Tom Thibodeau can’t ignore Miles McBride in 2023-24
- Knicks fans get super anticlimactic ending to 2023 FIBA World Cup
The Knicks would led by as many as 22 points, but three consecutive three-pointers by the Timberwolves ignited a 20-6 run that cut New York’s lead to single digits; 70-62 with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter. New York almost choked and gave away the game, as the Timberwolves outscored the Knicks 62-47 in the second half. The increased Minnesota defensive intensity in the second half forced New York to shoot only 34.1% from the field.
The Knicks held onto the lead though, as Afflalo and Anthony combined to score 22 points in the fourth quarter. Just barely though… as the Timberwolves were able to make it a one possession game a couple of times late in the fourth quarter.
New York was able to knock down all their clutch free-throws down the stretch to hold off Minnesota’s comeback. In fact, the Knicks were 16/17 from the charity-stripe in the final period.
It was a great battle between the two up and coming rookies, but what is even more important, is that both the teams are up and coming because of these two rookies. Let’s hope that there are many, MANY, more meaningful games to come in the next two decades.
But for now, let’s just enjoy a video of the first match-up between the top two Rookie of the Year candidates.
Full Highlights of Kristaps Porzingis vs Karl-Anthony Towns
Next: Family Keeps Kristaps Porzingis Focused
The Knicks will have to take on another Rookie of the Year candidate Friday night in Jahlil Okafor and the Philadelphia 76ers. Should be another entertaining game to watch!