Kristaps Porzingis misses Lakers game because of illness
New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis looks to pass against the Denver Nuggets in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
LOS ANGELES — Kristaps Porzingis came to the Staples Center on the bus with the team, and left the building by himself long before tipoff.
Porzingis returned to the team hotel because of a stomach illness that kept him out of Sunday night’s game against the Lakers. Derrick Williams started in his place.
It was just the third game Porzingis has missed this season because of illness or injury. He was coming off a 23-point performance in the Knicks’ loss to the Clippers on Friday night. The Knicks don’t play again until Wednesday at Golden State.
Arron Afflalo returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a strained right abdominal muscle. But interim coach Kurt Rambis brought him off the bench as Sasha Vujacic started his third straight games.
Lance Thomas was out for the fourth straight game because of a sore left knee that he aggravated while shooting before the first game of this trip Monday in Denver.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
