Kristaps Porzingis is already making an impression on everyone in the league and he’s only a sophomore.
Kristaps Porzingis, starting power forward for the New York Knicks, had a very impressive block tonight against the Brooklyn Nets point guard, Spencer Dinwiddie.
Dinwiddie was at the three-point line and drove to his right against the smaller Chasson Randle as he made his move to get to the basket. Dinwiddie’s quickness caught Randle off guard, as he ended up back peddling to try and stay in front of Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie made it to the paint and Randle’s teammate, Lance Thomas came over from the weak side to help. As Thomas arrived, Dinwiddie was already in the air and bodied Randle as he attempted to get his shot up. Then, Porzingis struck.
Porzingis was shadowing Randle as Dinwiddie drove to the basket and was waiting to help on defense if a problem arose. Well, much to Randle’s dismay, he got beat and he is lucky that Porzingis was there to save the drive. Porzingis reached right over the top of Dinwiddie and caught the ball in midair. The ball was clutched between his hand and wrist and Porzingis was not going to let that ball fall into the hoop. Even more impressive, Porzingis stayed inbounds after he snatched the ball from Dinwiddie. He was falling out of bounds, but he kept his composure and found Thomas right behind him expecting the pass.
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Blocks that catch the ball in the air are very impressive and they have appeared more in games this season. One player, in particular, Hassan Whiteside, is known for his blocking abilities. Multiple times this season, Whiteside has gone up and caught the ball in midair and brought it back down to earth. Sometimes, he even does it with two hands.