Celtics Starting Lineup: Latest on Kristaps Porzingis’ Role After Return From Calf Injury, via Coach Mazzulla

Well, the good news is that Kristaps Porzingis is off the injury report. After missing Boston’s last 10 games, there were concerns about the availability of the Latvian center in time for the Finals. An unfortunate non-contact injury in the Miami series ended his playing time. An injury-addled player, the Cs have taken extra care when it comes to the 28-year-old. However, it isn’t easy to control injuries on the court. Nevertheless, in the case of Kristaps, it would seem like injuries just found him. The calf strain he sustained at the Kaseya Center in Game 4 hit him badly. The 7-footer missed the entire Cleveland and Pacers series, despite positive reports and updates.

Anyway, now everything has come to this point – the Finals. And according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, there is good and somewhat of a not-sure news. “No minutes restriction for Kristaps Porziņģis, per Joe Mazzulla. No comment on whether he’ll start.”

Porzingis himself was honest in explaining the state of his game going into the matchup. After all, he was out of the lineup since April 29. During media availability on Wednesday, the 2018 All-Star said, “I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment, but there’s nothing like game minutes and game experience that I’m going to get tomorrow. It will be tough to jump into the Finals like this.”

Indeed, it will be. The Cs have been the frontrunners for this year’s Championship since the start of the season. Although Boston hasn’t found much resistance in terms of opponents, considering they finished with the best record in the league this season, the Finals are a different ball game altogether. And their foes for the series are no easy targets, either.

So, to miss as many games as Porzingis did in the postseason and then get back into the fray smack in the middle of THE most important leg of their season, will be a tough job to execute. But he isn’t the ‘Unicorn’ for nothing.

The final verdict on Kristaps Porzingis for the night

Well, now we know why Mazzulla refrained from commenting anything on whether KP6 will be starting. According to NBC Sports Boston Celtic statistician and researcher Dick Lipe, Kristaps will be coming off the bench. The only time he came off the bench was in his second year with the Knicks. “Porzingis will be coming off the bench tonight for the Celtics. Including the postseason, he has started 472 of 473 career games. The last time he came off the bench was Jan. 19, 2017, 2,695 days ago,” he wrote.

You don’t have to teach a fish to swim and the same can be said of athletes. They might have undergone surgeries and sustained quite a list of injuries, but that does not make them invalid. “Just because he’s been out for a month doesn’t mean you have to relearn how to play basketball,” Mazzulla said. “I expect him to pick right back up where he left off. Obviously, there will be a little bit of rust.”

And just until Kristaps Porzingis shakes off that rust, the bench move is a smart one. Especially given the stage the Celtics are at right now. Then again, it won’t be long before the ‘Zinger’ will be up and running. As such, let’s look at the starters for tonight’s game.

• The Boston Celtics – Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford
• The Dallas Mavericks – Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones Jr, P. J. Washington, Daniel Gafford

With the matchup underway, stay tuned to EssentiallySports for more updates as and when they occur!

For more such updates, and to follow in what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.