Kristaps Porzingis, the center for the Boston Celtics, made a comeback to the court during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He was dealing with an unusual injury to his left leg, which he said would need surgery and take a “few months” to heal.
In Game 2, Porzingis sustained a torn medial retinaculum, which allowed the posterior tibialis tendon to dislocate. The team termed this injury as “rare” in their news release.
Nevertheless, he made a comeback to play 16 minutes in Monday night’s series-deciding 106-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 5 points as he replaced center Al Horford off the bench and helping Boston win its record-tying 18th NBA title. Horford had missed Games 3 and 4 in Dallas.
Porzingis responded, “Of course,” when asked if he was worried about playing on his injury aggravating it. “I’m confident something could have happened, especially since I recently returned from compensating on the other leg.
“There was definitely some added risk, but I didn’t care. I was like, ‘I want to give everything I can and then fix it after if I need to.'”
After missing more than five weeks due to a calf strain sustained in Game 4 of Boston’s first-round series against the Miami Heat, Porzingis made a strong comeback to play well in Games 1 and 2 of the Finals against the Mavericks, the team that dealt him away in a salary dump two and a half years prior.
Despite being listed as active for Game 4 despite missing Game 3, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated that Porzingis was “not quite ready” for game action and will only be used in very particular situations.
When Porzingis arrived for the first time halfway through the first quarter, the audience exploded. Mazzulla declared on Monday that Porzingis had recovered sufficiently to play in Game 5.
“Since last game, I’ve been thinking … ‘How can I get my body ready for next game?'” Porzingis spoke about his preparation for Game 5 and how he got himself into a position to be effective. Like, whatever the circumstances. And I decided today that I would do all in my power to get out there.
“So from this morning, I was preparing myself that I will go out there. And, yeah, the medical staff was … unbelievable support for me and got me back out there somehow. … I’m super thankful for them. … I gave everything I could.
“And, man, it feels great to be a champion.”
After losing to the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals the previous year, Boston acquired Porzingis by trading for Marcus Smart, a former Defensive Player of the Year and fan favorite. During the regular season, Porzingis averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Boston Celtics.
Porzingis said that although he still has a long recovery process ahead of him, it is all irrelevant in the grand scheme of winning a championship.
“I don’t care,” he declared. “I will fix it. This is the most important, and after my injury healing, and all that, it’s totally worth it.”