LeBron James challenges Kristaps Porzingis, makes the rook back down

New York Knicks rookie phenom Kristaps Porzingis went up against LeBron James again on Wednesday night, and he more than held his own overall.

Porzingis had 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists while LeBron countered with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists (Cleveland also won, 91-84).

Based on the box score, it was a pretty even battle. Except there was just this one little play where LeBron went right at Porzingis and challenged the rookie. You know what happened:

Here's another angle (via NBA):

Nope, Kristaps wanted absolutely no part of that. Smartly, he just bailed out and conceded the dunk rather than risking his life, at worst, or embarrassment, at best, by trying to block LeBron's vicious slam. We can't blame him.

It's cool. We still love you Kristaps.

Teddy Mitrosilis works in social content development at FOX Sports Digital. Follow him on Twitter @TMitrosilis and email him at tmitrosilis@gmail.com.