Aterrific two-way player, Porzingis and fellow new trade arrival Jrue Holiday helped transform an already-good Celtics club into the class of their conference.
Boston Celtics starting center Kristaps Porzingis will return to action in time for Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
The 7-foot-2 big man has been on the shelf since April 29 with a right soleus (calf) strain, which has kept him out of all but four games of his team’s playoff run, during Boston’s five-game first-round series victory against the Miami Heat. The Celtics hardly missed a beat without him, going 12-2 in the Eastern Conference en route to their second Finals berth in the past three seasons.
Former five-time All-Star center Al Horford has been doing an admirable job of starting in Porzingis’ stead, though the 38-year-old has been a bit overtaxed and, given his advanced age, is a constant injury risk himself.
During his ten games as a starter, the 6-foot-9 Horford averaged 10.7 points on .444/.338/.714 shooting splits, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.7 steals a night, across 32 minutes.
Charania reports that Porzingis has played in “multiple scrimmages” over the past few days and, assuming he doesn’t have further trouble, is on track for his first game action in months.
Porzingis and his then-expiring $36 million contract for 2023-24 were flipped to Boston last summer, and he quickly inked a two-year, $60 million extension to keep him under team control through the 2025-26 season.
A terrific two-way player, Porzingis and fellow new trade arrival Jrue Holiday helped transform an already-good Celtics club into the class of their conference. Porzingis’ rim protection and three-point shooting, combined with Holiday’s three-point shooting and perimeter defense, helped bolster the play of incumbent All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, plus All-Defensive guard Derrick White. Boston posted a 64-18 record, 14 games better than the East’s No. 2-seeded New York Knicks (who were felled by the Indiana Pacers — and injuries — in a seven-game second-round series before Boston swept Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals).
The Celtics have emerged as one of the NBA’s elite two-way teams this season, boasting the top net rating (+11.6) in the league, the best offensive rating in the league (123.2), and the third-best defensive rating in the league (111.6).
On the year, Porzingis averaged 20.1 points on a .516/.375/.858 slash line, 7.2 rebounds, two assists, 1.9 blocks, and 0.7 steals across 57 healthy regular season games.
Boston was already favored to beat the Mavericks in Vegas even before this news arrived. DraftKings pegged the Celtics as -210 favorites to take the series, even after Dallas’ All-Star backcourt of Luka Doncic and ex-Celtic Kyrie Irving helped power the club through a formidable slate of Western Conference foes.
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