Kristaps Porzingis is picking up a New York accent, and now it’s clear he’s picking up the city attitude as well. When Suns forward Marquese Chriss threw Porzingis to the floor during Tuesday’s game between the Knicks and Suns, the Latvian big man popped right back to his feet, untucked jersey and all, and gave Chriss a two-handed shove.
Security came onto the floor to help refs and teammates separate the two players. Chriss received a flagrant 1 foul while he, Porzingis, Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Jennings received additional technical fouls.
Marquese Chriss' out here trying to punk the Porzingod pic.twitter.com/whMtriSgak
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) December 14, 2016
Chriss lost Part One of the battle when Porzingis blocked his shot on the previous possession, shown at the very start of that clip. With the way Porzingis got to his feet unshaken and Chriss backed away from the retaliation, it appears he won Part Two as well.
Going into overtime against the Suns, Porzingis had 29 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals to Chriss’ 14 points, 11 rebounds and 1 steal.
This isn’t the first time Porzingis showed some fire on the court. In January, he started a scuffle with Hawks guard Kent Bazemore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npq7NaEkL8
