Luka Doncic made his return from an ankle sprain on Thursday night, and with the MVP candidate on the floor, the Dallas Mavericks took down the San Antonio Spurs, 102-98. With Doncic back in tow, the Mavericks didn’t need Kristaps Porzingis to be the focal point of the offense, and as a result, the big man had a quiet evening.
Porzingis scored 13 points and reeled in eight rebounds while shooting 4-for-15 from the field and 3-for-8 from three. His willingness to let it fly from deep drew the ire of the TNT studio crew during halftime, with Charles Barkley, who was famous for being a wrecking ball in the paint during his career, being especially bummed out for Porzingis not establishing himself down low.
After the game, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was asked about why Porzingis doesn’t post up more. Carlisle, in response, basically said it’s because of how the NBA has evolved.
Rick Carlisle: “A post-up is not a good play anymore. It’s just not a good play. It’s not a good play for a 7-foot-3 guy. It’s a low-value situation.” So, no, he doesn’t agree with TNT broadcasters that Kristaps Porzingis needs to post-up more. Mavs love how KP spaces floor.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 27, 2019
As he elaborated on this, Carlisle explained that Porzingis is an historically good shooter on attempts above the break, so it doesn’t make much sense to not take advantage of that.
#MFFL head coach Rick Carlisle sharply addresses critics (Charles Barkley) of Kristaps Porzingis not posting up and how the NBA has changed and people appreciating Porzingis for who he is…#NBA #NBATwitter (NSFW) pic.twitter.com/DSQzf2qBOK
— Kevin Gray Jr. (@KevinGraySports) December 27, 2019
The numbers do back up that Porzingis, at the very least, better not be posting up: As our pal Jared Dubin pointed out, having him go down on the block isn’t a particularly efficient shot, but when he’s involved in pick-and-rolls, Dallas is thrashing opponents.
Carlisle is right, obviously, and it's also worth noting that on the rare occasions he does post up (career-low 4.7 per 100 poss) KP has been less efficient than ever (0.795 PPP). So not only is it generally inefficient, it's even more so with KP this season. https://t.co/lsu2vAmACL
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) December 27, 2019
Points per possession on KP's 25.2 P&R per 100 possessions: career-high 1.122. I think the Mavs are doing the right thing.
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) December 27, 2019
There is certainly an argument that Porzingis should get more looks at the rim — coming into Thursday, he was shooting a career-high 76.7 percent on shots from within three feet — but clogging up the offense by posting up is not the best idea. The math backs this up, it’s not Porzingis’ game, and he is so much more effective elsewhere. Barkley’s an old school guy, and old school guys tend to be really into big players going to work near the rim, but the numbers are just not on his side here.
