Kristaps Porzingis exceeding expectations with Knicks

Kristaps Porzingis was playing against his idol, Kobe Bryant, and in front of basketball royalty in Magic Johnson on Sunday, but the rookie never got overwhelmed or star-struck.

Porzingis believed he belonged long before he donned a Knicks uniform, and he's proving it each time he puts it on and steps on the court.

The Knicks have played only seven games, but Porzingis already has three double-doubles, including a 12-point, 10-rebound performance in Sunday's win over the Lakers.

The 7-3 Latvian is second on the Knicks in scoring, averaging 12.3 points, and leads the team with 8.6 rebounds. Porzingis said he expected this -- and more -- and he knows that many other people didn't.

"I'm still skinny, I'm still light, but I fight hard and I can't back down to anybody," he said before the Knicks flew to Toronto for Tuesday night's game against the Raptors. "That's been my game. A lot of people didn't know my game. So that's why they thought, 'Skinny white guy, he's not going to be physical.' But I still fight for those rebounds and try to do my job on the court."

Even those who have played with Porzingis or watched him play for the last few months didn't foresee this happening this quickly.

"He's actually doing more than what we hoped we'd get out of him," Carmelo Anthony said.

"I don't think we could anticipate that he'd be as good as he's been," Derek Fisher said.

Porzingis is the first Knicks rookie with at least three double-doubles in his first seven games since Patrick Ewing did it 30 years ago. Porzingis and Ewing are the only Knicks rookies to record 80 points, 60 rebounds and nine blocks in seven games since 1973-74, when blocks became an official stat.

Fisher cautioned that there could be a stretch when Porzingis "looks bad and everybody is questioning whether we should have drafted him." Right now, though, it seems everyone is heaping praise on Porzingis -- and on the Knicks for taking a chance and using the fourth pick to draft him.

Bryant said Porzingis "looked very, very good" and has a "promising future." Johnson took it a step further and tweeted that Porzingis is "the steal of the draft."

Porzingis was humbled.

"A legend like him approves and sees potential in me and says that, that's huge," he said. "That just shows me that I've got to keep working hard to prove to everybody that I can really play and I can have a long, successful career in the NBA."

Porzingis has shown he's very skilled and agile for someone his size. But it's his inner drive to be good, or even better than people expect, that could make Johnson's tweet ring true.

Porzingis hasn't forgotten being booed on draft night, and it pushes him to prove he can play, but he isn't surprised by the results thus far.

"I expect even a better game for myself," he said. "I know I can do better. I always expected great things from myself."

Fisher said the Knicks are not putting any expectations on Porzingis other than to play aggressively.

"He does compete," Fisher said. "You have to give our management and our scouting department really, really a lot of credit for seeing the other parts of his game -- the toughness, the willingness to throw his body in the paint -- that a lot of people didn't see. A lot of people just saw the shooting and were kind of fascinated by that, but we saw the length, the reactivity on the defensive end, and those were all good things.

"His ceiling is a long way from wherever he is now. We just have to be excited about the present but also the future."

Notes & quotes: Signs are pointing toward Arron Afflalo (strained left hamstring) making his Knicks debut Wednesday night in Charlotte.

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.