Thunder 105, Knicks 84: Scenes from Kristaps Porzingis shining amidst familiar Knicks clownery

The New York Knicks kicked off their 2017-18 campaign looking much like they looked last year: a squad with a promising unicorn, coached by incompetents.

Carmelo Anthony was supposed to be the story of the evening, but he’s not a Knick anymore so forget him. Let’s start, instead, with the good: Kristaps Porzingis was the man, particularly in the first half when he lead all scorers with 19 points. He struggled with his shot in the second half—not sure if it was due to his usual fatigue issues or the Thunder’s stifling D—but he still ended up with 31 points on 11-25 shooting.

Perhaps more importantly, Yung ‘Staps feasted on the boards, collecting 12 rebounds.

He was quite good, y’all.

He pulled out all of his tricks, including the Latvian Dream Shake.

Oh, and he blocked Melo!

Now for the bad: the rotations, my God! Frank Ntilikina (7 minutes) and Willy Hernangomez (3 minutes) barely played. Enes Kanter, Kyle O’Quinn and Ron Baker played way too much. This game was a blowout in the third quarter—and also those dudes just plain suck. What’s the excuse?

And finally, the Beas: Michael Beasley only played for a couple of minutes before rolling his ankle. He got his bucket, though.

Recap to come. Kristaps forever.