BOSTON — Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said Tuesday that “the plan” is for him to be available in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, but he was still cautious about how his leg will respond.
“That’s the plan now,” Porzingis said of playing Thursday. “Again, it’s a couple more days and I think that could make a difference. Every day gives me a little more time to improve even more.”
Porzingis has been out since suffering a right calf strain five weeks ago in Game 4 of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat. He returned to at least part of practice on Friday and participated fully in a light session on Saturday.
His presence in the series was going to be a major story given that he spent three years with the Mavericks before being traded in February 2022, but it has only been magnified due to his ongoing recovery from his calf strain. And, twice, when asked on Tuesday if he is 100 percent right now, and again later when asked if he is no longer in pain, he took several long seconds before hesitantly answering.
“Good question,” he said with a wry smile when asked if he’s currently 100 percent. “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve worked hard up to this point. I’ve done everything necessary to get back into shape. We’ll see.”
Later, when asked if he was running pain-free, he sat for a while, apparently deciding what to say, before finally saying, “Yes.”
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It was Porzingis’ last moment of candor during his year in Boston, dating back to his introductory press conference at the team’s practice facility when, in answering a question about how he would perform in the playoffs, he admitted he didn’t know. But for a Celtics fan base that has been awaiting the 7-foot-2 Latvian’s return for the past few weeks, it introduced a level of concern ahead of Boston’s second trip to the NBA Finals, which begins Thursday. .
Boston acquired Porzingis in a three-team trade a year ago in part to give the Celtics a different dimension as they reached the late stages of the playoffs after repeatedly failing to raise an 18th championship banner in the TD Garden. beams. And although he has missed most of the playoffs due to injury, he was a big part of the team’s success in the regular season, averaging 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and shooting 51.6 percent from the field. field, the best of his career.
Porzingis said he has been participating in practices with the team, but it’s difficult to simulate game speed in those types of environments, particularly with limited practice time as he recovers from an injury that kept him out of the team’s final 10 games. Boston in these playoffs.
But, when asked if he could only know if he had recovered from the injury once he tested his calf in a game situation, Porzingis said he is confident his leg will hold up once he is in those situations.
“I think the medical staff wouldn’t put me there if they didn’t have confidence that I would be OK,” Porzingis said. “I’ve done the things necessary to check the boxes and that’s it.
“Of course, it’s difficult to imitate the same intensity in practice. That intensity will be on a completely different level, but I have to be sure that everything will be fine.”
For his part, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who asked, “What did he say?” When asked if he thought Porzingis would be ready for Game 1, he said there was too much talk about the time his center missed and how it would affect Porzingis’ integration process back into Boston’s lineup.
“He’s been playing basketball for about 30 years,” Mazzulla said. “He’s been playing in intense situations his whole life, so I don’t think that’s a big problem. I think it all depended on… obviously you can’t simulate the speed and intensity of the game, which I think just comes with a bit of repetitions.
“KP is a great player. I think just because you’ve been out for a month doesn’t mean you have to relearn how to play basketball. He’s been doing a lot of great things for us this season on both ends of the court with physicality, with intensity. And I hope he picks up right where he left off, but obviously there will be a little rust, he just won’t care about the work he’s done and what he’s done this season for us.”
Kristaps Porzingis has watched the Celtics’ run to the NBA Finals primarily from the sideline while recovering from a calf strain he suffered in the first round. Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images
Upon coming to the Celtics, Porzingis expressed his excitement at having the opportunity to return with a franchise that should be relevant well into the playoffs, particularly after spending the last two seasons with a Washington Wizards team that has been stagnant, and very far from the playoff picture.
And while he admitted it had “sucked” not to participate for the past few weeks during Boston’s run to the Finals, he said he was excited to finally be able to get back on the court with his teammates now, and marveled at the energy in the city and around the franchise, before the start of the Finals.
“It’s unbelievable,” Porzingis said. “Just the energy…like everyone is excited. It’s going to be exciting. It will be, even just seeing the amount of people now. It shows the magnitude of this and what’s at stake. As a team, as an organization , we go into this series with full confidence, knowing that we are not skipping any steps.
“The goal is to finish the job.”
If Boston wants to do that, they’ll need the Celtics and Porzingis to move on from their former team. But while his tenure in Dallas (where, coincidentally, Porzingis has yet to play since being traded) didn’t end on the best of terms, Porzingis said there are no hard feelings on his part about his time there.
“I think it’s going to be great,” Porzingis said. “I played there for two and a half years and I’m happy for everyone in Dallas. I have a lot of great relationships there and I think they deserve to have some success like they’ve had this season.
“It’ll be fun to play my old team, get back to Dallas and play some games there. I’m looking forward to it.”
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