Kristaps Porzingis savors his revenge

There was a little electricity in the air at the Capital One Arena on the occasion of the arrival of Dallas, almost two months after the exchange involving Davis Bertans, Spencer Dinwiddie and especially Kristaps Porzingis.

The Latvian interior was obviously ultra motivated by this match, as well as his team, determined to offer him revenge against his former franchise, and the result was final as the Wizards won 135-103.

“At the rally before the game, I said to him: ‘KP, since they let you go, we will beat them for you.’ That’s the first thing I said to him, and that’s exactly what we did. »said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, MVP of the game with his 35 points at 13/19 on shots.

The support of a whole team

Author of 24 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in 30 minutes, Kristaps Porzingis brought his stone to the building, and was able to savor his victory against his former teammates.

 » I am happy. Of course, we don’t play for the play-in anymore, but it was a nice game. Everyone had a little more juice at the start of the game, due to the exchange between the two teams. And for me, it was cool to be able to face my old team. They know my strengths and my weaknesses, it was fun to see the options they were going to take on me, how they were going to defend me, and just to play against a top team. It was really really cool,” he confided. “Everyone supported me today. KCP was amazing, and everyone who entered maintained the same level of energy. I also really liked what I saw from Deni Avdija and Rui Hachimura. They played hard and well. It was a team effort. »

Rid of his injuries, the Latvian was aggressive towards the circle at the start of the match and was able to put his teammates in a favorable position, like Deni Avdija, before validating his performance with two 3-point missiles at the end of the game. Clearly, KP was motivated for this reunion.

“Of course there was motivation. The thing is, I’m happy to be here. But it’s always nice to face your old team, no matter what happened, it’s always a good challenge, especially against such a good team, with so much talent. We arrived prepared, focused, and from the start, we had the upper hand. They had moments when they came back, but we stayed the course. »

Porzingis denies rumors about him and Doncic

Kristaps Porzingis also returned to his relationship with Luka Doncic, and when asked the most false thing written out of two, here is what he answers.

“The fact that we didn’t get along off the field, when there was no problem between us. Everything was cool, we went out often… It was a misconception to say the opposite. Luka is a super cool person, so it’s hard not to be cool with him too. Sometimes it just doesn’t work the way you might expect. It’s like that. It was cool to play with the star of a generation, as talented as him. But that’s over now, and I’m happy to be here today. »

The interior now wants to look to the future, hoping, as he had confided before the match, to be able to land in Washington and build for the long term, if possible with Bradley Beal by his side.

“I really like playing with these players, and we still miss them, with Bradley Beal’s package. I hope he stays so we can really take this team to the next level next year. But as it stands, we’re playing hard, and everyone in the franchise has raised their game. That’s what we want”.