Wednesday night, New York Knicks hero Kristaps Porzingis meets fellow Internet icon Evan “Don’t Google” Fournier In The Fight You’ve All Been Waiting For.
It’s hard to think of any two men that have been as surprising as Evan Fournier and Kristaps Porzingis in the still young NBA season.
Fournier is a 23-year-old Frenchmen that after two years as a solid role player in Denver, made the move down to the Orlando Magic and became a solid start, averaging 12 points per game on 44 percent shooting last season.
Now, he’s taking it to another level. For one, he’s leading the Magic in scoring with 18.8 points night, but even more important is his status on the Internet. Fournier has affectionately become known as “Don’t Google” because if you Google his last name, you will almost certainly lose your lunch, innocence, and childlike sense of wonder.
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Seriously, don’t google Don’t Google. It’s for your own good.
Kristaps, meanwhile, has arguably been the NBA’s best rookie thus far. He’ll be entering the game coming off a 20-point, 14-rebound performance against the Heat in a losing effort on Monday night.
Wednesday night, those two will clash in a matchup of two of the NBA’s better young teams.
The Knicks have hopped off to one of the NBA’s best starts, winning four of their last five and riding a four game win streak into Monday night’s loss against the Heat. That loss was a sobering one to many though, as New York hit just 32 percent of their shots , going 4-for-24 from behind the arc in the process.
It was the bench that especially struggled in the 95-78 beating, as the second unit combined to shoot an abysmal 4-for-27. In fact, the starting five for New York actually played relatively well, with Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony both scoring 20 points, Robin Lopez adding 12 points and eight rebounds, and Arron Afflalo pouring in an additional 11 points.
Shooting 32 percent can generally be chalked up to simply being a poor shooting night, but Orlando has plenty of length and talent to continue the Knicks shooting woes. Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordan, and Tobias Harris could make for a long night in Orlando for Knicks fans.
Matchup To Watch: Kristaps Porzingis vs. Magic Frontcourt
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Kristaps has looked nearly unstoppable as of late, with an ability to work off the pick and roll, put the ball on floor and get to the rim, and of course that soaking wet jumper. The Magic will likely have two options to stop our 7-foot-3 Latvian monster, Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris.
Vucevic is a bruiser down in the block and putting together the best season of his career. His size and physicality could prove difficult for the still young and lean Porzingis to match, especially if he’s looking for the hook shit he’s been using recently.
Harris, meanwhile, stands at just 6-foot 9-inches and may struggle with Kristaps’ size advantage, but could probably match his speed.
Porzingis has shown an early ability to blow by defenders and get to the rim, but Harris may be able to keep up with Kristaps and force him to play to the outside, as well as giving the Magic a chance against the pick and roll’s that Porzingis runs so well with the likes of Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant, and Langston Galloway.
Player To Watch: Langston Galloway
Langston was perhaps the Knicks worst player in the loss against the Heat, going just 1-9 from the field and 0-5 from behind the arc for a grand total of two points. I’d look for Galloway to turn that around tonight against the shallow Magic backcourt.
As long as Galloway can stay away from starting point guard Elfrid Payton and face up against Payton’s backup, Shabazz Napier, he should be able to put his worst shooting performance this season behind him and get back to basics.
Prediction: New York Knicks win
The bench figures it out and runs away with a win late.
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But hey, even if the Knicks do lose, at least we aren’t the 76ers.