Kristaps Porzingis is really hitting his stride in February

The Mavericks acquired Kristaps Porzingis with more of an eye on this season and beyond. In the month of February, the big man has paid off that faith.

When the Dallas Mavericks acquired Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks in late January 2019, it was with some eye on pairing him fully healthy with Luka Doncic this season and into the future. As they sit in seventh place in the Western Conference with a 36-23 record, 7.5 games clear of the eighth seed Memphis Grizzlies and 3.5 games out of the No. 3 seed, so far so good in Dallas.

As could be expected after missing a season-plus, Porzingis started slowly this season. He averaged a solid 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game over his first 17 games, through the end of November. But he was shooting less than 40 percent from the floor, and over his next 14 games, it wasn’t much better.

Then Porzingis missed the following 10 games, into mid-January, with lingering soreness in that previously injured left knee. But he ended the month on a high note, with a then season-high 35 points against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 31, before being rested Feb. 1 on the second night of a back-to-back. Since then, with a couple of games off to rest his knee, it’s been all systems go.

After scoring 28 points with 12 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and an assist against the Spurs on Wednesday night, Porzingis is averaging 25.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 blocks per game in eight February games. He is shooting over 49 percent from the floor this month, while also converting over 39 percent from beyond the arc. As a further sign he’s as healthy as he’s been all season, those better shooting percentages have come with an uptick in volume this month (15.8 field goal attempts per game; 8.6 attempts per game from 3-point range).

Not coincidentally, Feb. 6 marked two years since Porzingis tore his left ACL playing for the Knicks against the Milwaukee Bucks. Being that far removed from the injury now, and with early-season rust knocked off after not having played at all last season has surely helped foster a breakthrough. Porzingis has hit a serious stride and returned to his promising form with one game left to further bolster his February numbers.