Breaking down the good – and bad – of Kristaps Porzingis’ Warriors debut

SAN FRANCISCO – Kristaps Porzingis had the basketball in a vicegrip, his 7-foot-2 frame towering over the pesky Payton Pritchard, who was similarly in no mood to relinquish control. 

The Chase Center crowd began to hum, then cheer, then roar as their new Warriors center refused to back down from Boston’s flamethrowing guard late in the second quarter of the Warriors’ loss. 

It ended with the former Celtic teammates being involved in a jump ball. 

“We were already down big, so I wasn’t in the best mood,” Porzingis said. “But it was a cool moment though.”

Playing in his first game since being traded by the Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, the multi-skilled and somewhat peeved Porzingis gave the Warriors plenty to be excited – and concerned – about in 17 uneven minutes.

Porzingis scored 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting, grabbed one rebound, dished out an assist and turned the ball over twice. 

It was his first action since early January, and just the 18th game he has played this season. Porzingis has dealt with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and a variety of injuries that have prevented him from playing in more than 60 games in six of the past seven seasons. 

So rust was certainly an issue. 

His steps were a smidge slow, the shot a tad flat and the rotations often late. But Porzingis’ gravity as a scorer stayed unchanged, his presence at the rim still fearsome and the potential for more remained.

It was not a perfect debut, but still one that should encourage the Warriors. 

“I thought he looked good,” Kerr said. “You know it’s never easy just going to a new team, and having one practice, and playing. But you can see his talent, his feel for the game, his ability to space the floor, protect the rim. It’s good to have him on our team, that’s for sure.”

The knowledge that Porzingis would make his debut added some much-needed excitement to a game that had a chunk of its luster worn off by the knowledge that Steph Curry would miss it with runner’s knee.

He even had several old “friends” from Boston there to greet him in his new home.

A healthy contingent of travelling Boston media swarmed Porzingis at his new Warriors locker, which was situated between Gui Santos and fellow former Boston center Al Horford. Chatting with more familiar faces, the Warriors’ newest addition cracked a joke an hour before tipoff. 

“They’re gonna have the perfect scouting report on me, so let’s see how that goes,” Porzingis said. 

During warmups, a loosey-goosey Porzingis drew “ooohs” and “aaahs” as he took progressively longer shots under the watchful eye of assistant coach Seth Cooper. 

It was an oft-interrupted routine, with old Celtics teammates such as Jaylen Brown and Derrick White popping over to say hello. 

The Celtics’ familiarity – and Porzingis’ obvious rust after not playing since Jan. 7 – was easy to see early on. In seven first-half minutes, he was a minus-19 and was on the floor for the Celtics’ 17-2 run to start the second quarter. 

The Chase Center’s glitzy floor might as well have been quicksand. Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard made sure every possession tested Porzingis on the perimeter, the Celtics making three 3-pointers and roasting Porzingis on drives and cuts during that run. 

“It’s always weird coming back after a while,” Porzingis said. “I’ve had ups and downs in my career, and I’ve been out for a bit, and pretty good at jumping right back in. Today was the same kind of scenario I’ve been in my career.”

The defense left much to be desired, but he flashed the kind of isolation offense and floor-stretching shooting that had Kerr comparing Porzingis to the injured Jimmy Butler as a one-on-one player. 

Aside from the two triples from the career 36.6% 3-point shooter, he also buried a couple of fadeaways in the post, looking quite comfortable turning over his shoulder to fire and make an unblockable shot. The 6-foot-nothing Pritchard hopelessly contested one of those shots in the fourth quarter.

Porzingis was also on the floor for a run that helped the Warriors outscore the Celtics by 15 in his final nine minutes of play. 

The Celtics even began to double-team him on post-ups, although Porzingis noted that might have been just a product of the team knowing his tendencies. 

Playing against the Celtics’ backups, Porzingis began to flex his scoring muscle and even showed activity as a rim-protector. 

In all, it was the kind of start that provided enough flashes for Golden State (29-27) to be optimistic even as their franchise player remains sidelined with an injury until March.

“He’ll continue to progress and get his legs underneath him and be able to play more,” Horford said. “Then we’ll see the real KP.”