Ask around for just what has been the principal reason for the stunning first quarter of Kristaps Porzingis’s rookie season and the answers are as varied as the 7-foot-3 Latvian’s skills.
Before Porzingis racked up his 10th double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Knicks’ 108-91 demolition of the Nets on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Coach Derek Fisher said it was Porzingis’s consistency, competitively and behaviorally.
The resurgent point guard Jose Calderon emphatically went with the 20-year-old’s acquiescent work ethic. “When you do anything they ask you to, and you work hard, usually it works out well,” Calderon said.