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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
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 Thursday night, but was still wary of how his leg will respond.
“That is the plan right now,” Porzingis said of playing Thursday. “But, yeah.
“Again, it’s a couple more days, and I think that could make a difference. Every day gives me a bit more time to get even better.”
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 some portion of practice Friday and participated fully in a light session Saturday,
His presence in the series would’ve been a significant storyline even if he was fully healthy, given he spent three years with the Mavericks before being traded in February 2022, but it has only been magnified because of his ongoing recovery from his calf strain. And, on two occasions — when he was asked to begin the news conference Tuesday if he is 100 percent right now, and again later when asked if he is pain free — he took several long seconds before hesitantly answering.
“Good question,” he said with a wry smile to the question of whether he’s currently 100 percent. “I don’t know. We’ll see. Done a lot of work up until this point. Done everything needed to get back into playing shape. We’ll see.”
Later, when asked if he’s running pain-free, he sat there for a while, seemingly deciding what to say, before eventually just saying, “Yes.”
It was the latest moment of refreshing candor from Porzingis over his year in Boston — dating back to his introductory news conference here at the team’s practice facility when, in answering a question about how he would perform in the playoffs, he admitted that he didn’t know. But for a Celtics fanbase that has been waiting for the 7-foot-3 Latvian to return for the past several weeks, it introduced a level of concern ahead of Boston’s second trip to the NBA Finals — which kicks off Thursday.
Boston acquired Porzingis in a three-team trade a year ago, in part, to give the Celtics a different dimension when they got to the latter stages of the playoffs after they’d repeatedly fallen short of raising an 18th championship banner to the TD Garden rafters. And while he has missed most of the playoffs with an injury, he was a huge part of the team’s success in the regular season, averaging 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting a career-best 51.6 percent from the field.
Porzingis said he’s been participating in practices with the team, but that it’s difficult to simulate game speed in those types of settings, particularly with limited scrimmaging time as he’s recovered from an injury that’s kept him out of Boston’s last 10 games in these playoffs.
But, when asked if it was an injury that he could only really know he had recovered from until he tested it in a game situation, Porzingis said that he has confidence his leg will hold up once he’s in those situations.
“I think the medical staff would not put me out there if they wouldn’t be confident that I’d be good,” Porzingis said. “I’ve done the things necessary to check the boxes, and that’s it.
“Of course, it’s hard to imitate the same intensity in practice. That intensity is going to be a completely different level, but I have to be confident it will be alright.”
For his part, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla — who asked back, “What did he say?” when asked if he believed Porzingis would be ready for Game 1 — said too much was being made about the time his center has missed and how it would impact the process of integrating Porzingis back into Boston’s lineup.
“He’s been playing basketball for like 30 years,” Mazzulla said. “He’s been playing intense situations his whole life, so I don’t think that will be much of an issue. I think everything was just dependent upon — obviously you can’t simulate the speed and the intensity of the game, which I think just comes with a little bit of reps.
“KP is a great player. I think just because you’ve been out for a month doesn’t mean you have to, like, relearn how to play basketball. He’s been doing a lot of great things for us this season on both ends of the floor with physicality, with intensity. And I expect him to pick up right where he left off, but obviously there will be a little bit of rust. Just not concerned because of the work that he’s put in and what he’s done in his career and what he’s done in this season for us.”
Upon arriving with the Celtics, Porzingis expressed excitement about getting the chance to be back with a franchise that should be relevant deep into the playoffs — particularly after spending the past couple of years with a Washington Wizards team that has been in the doldrums, and far outside the playoff picture.
And while he admitted that it has “sucked” to sit out 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, ahead of the Finals starting.
“It’s incredible,” Porzingis said. “Just the energy … like everybody’s buzzing. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be — even just seeing the amount of people now. It shows the magnitude of this and what’s on the line. As a team, as an organization, we’re going into this series with full confidence, knowing that no steps were skipped.
“The goal is to finish the job.”
If Boston is to do that, it will require the Celtics, and Porzingis, to go through his former team. But while his tenure in Dallas — where, coincidentally, Porzingis has yet to play since being traded away — didn’t end on the best of terms, Porzingis said there are no hard-feelings on his side about his time there.
“I think it’s gonna be great,” Porzingis said. “I played there for two-and-a-half years and I’m happy for everybody in Dallas. A lot of like great relationships I have there and I think they deserve to have some success like they’ve had this season.
“It’s gonna be fun going up against my old team, going back to Dallas, playing some games there. Looking forward to it.”