Throughout the majority of their playoff run, the top-seeded Boston Celtics have been without their biggest offseason acquisition, as veteran scorer Kristaps Porzingis has been dealing with a calf strain, which has kept him sidelined for all but four games in the postseason.
Fortunately for Boston, the Celtics will likely get Porzingis back in the fold for the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, which is ironically one of his former teams where things didn’t go too well.
The return of Porzingis will give the Celtics a considerable boost, especially on the offensive end of the basketball floor, as he is a talented scorer and seems to fit perfectly alongside fellow starters Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White.
Before Porzingis went down with the calf strain, which is a tricky injury that can lead to a severe Achilles injury if not treated properly, the veteran forward put up some decent numbers in the four games he played, via StatMuse.
Porzingis in 4 games this playoffs:
12.3 PPG
5.0 RPG
1.3 SPG
1.5 BPG
39/40/93% pic.twitter.com/2cGEeiT0k8— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 1, 2024
Even though the Celtics are a stacked squad and could arguably still win a title against the Mavericks without Porzingis, the 28-year-old’s return definitely improves the team’s chances of raising what would be an NBA-record 18th championship banner in the rafters at TD Garden.
The real question now is whether Porzingis will be 100% heading into the Finals and how much head coach Joe Mazzulla will play him against Dallas.
If he is 100% or close to that, Porzingis could be a game-changer for Boston as they will take on a talented Mavericks squad that is firing on all cylinders right now.
Be the first to comment