Brandon Apter (@bapter23), Managing Editor
The young Sixers team lacks veteran leadership. There's no getting around that. It has shown all season and it showed again when the Sixers played the Knicks on Friday night, with Jahlil Okafor and Kristaps Porzingis going head-to-head for the first time all season. Although they were only covering each other for under four minutes of game action, Okafor won the "battle", scoring 20 points and grabbing five rebounds while Porzingis scored eight points, had four rebounds and three blocks. The reason the Knicks won was because they have guys like Carmelo Anthony, Arron Afflalo, Jose Calderon and Robin Lopez, all of whom have years of experience in the league. Though there have been reports of the Sixers pursuing Shane Battier and Elton Brand to help mentor the young players, no movement has been made on that from.
Prior to Friday night's game in Philadelphia, the fourth overall spoke to Marc Berman of the New York Post on the Sixers environment, one that he was familiar with last year in the Spanish League, and how being around veterans has helped him grow as a player.
“That would be tough,’’ Porzingis said Friday at the Knicks morning shootaround. “That’s basketball sometimes. Losing like that is very tough. I’ve been on a losing team last season, the first part of the season. It’s really tough. The negativity is always there. It’s not a good feeling. You mentally grow as you go through those tough times.’’
“I’m in a really good situation,’’ Porzingis said. “Having veterans around me to help me out on and off the court. He’s in a tough situation. I’m sure he’ll find a way to make his team win and get better as a player and how to be smarter off the court.’’
Following the 107-97 loss to the Knicks on Friday night, Sixers rookie Jahlil Okafor downplayed the matchup between him and Porzingis, focusing solely on his team against theirs.
"It's me versus his team," Okafor said bluntly. "I'm not worried about the individual matchup, and his team came out on top."
"We played some sloppy defense and they benefited from that," Okafor said. "We know how we're supposed to play, and we just have to figure out how to do that for 48 minutes. We were inconsistent throughout the game."
Porzingis is obviously much more upbeat about his play and his team than Okafor, who is on a squad that has won just a single game all season. That being said, the Knicks forward sees plenty of potential in Okafor and hoped to exchange phone numbers with the Duke alum on Friday.
“He’s a very good offensive player. His post game is a really high level. It’s hard to stop him in the post. My strategy is to front him and be running around him so he couldn’t receive the ball. Once he receives it, it’s really hard to stop him. But I tried to use my length to block his shots.’’
Porzingis got to know Okafor a little during the draft process and in Las Vegas. He said he’d like to “exchange numbers’’ with him Friday night.
The Knicks and Sixers next play on January 18th in New York before concluding the season series on April 8th at the Wells Fargo Center.
