BOSTON — Kristaps Porzingis took part in portions of the Celtics practice on Friday, one week ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Joe Mazzulla spoke about his center who continues to rehab from a right calf strain.
“He’s getting better,” Mazzulla said at the Auerbach Center. “He’s out there shooting. Went through a couple of drills in practice. So, progressing well and kind of confident where he’s at right now.”
Porzingis suffered the calf strain on April 29th in the midst of the Celtics’ first round series against the Heat. He has missed a month of action since but Boston has cruised through the last two rounds without him, going 9-1 overall including a series sweep over the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Despite Boston’s success, Jrue Holiday is eager to get the seven-footer back on the floor and foresees no problems getting him back into the fold after a lengthy absence.
“We literally went through it before,” Holiday said. “We kind of went through all scenarios before of what could happen or what would happen or whatever. And it kind of shows. KP is one of the best scorers. He’s one of our best rim protectors and I feel like we’re all mature enough to get back in the groove or have him fit right back in whenever he comes back. We do want KP back. We like can’t wait for him to be back and be a part of this on the court.”
The return will carry such extra intrigue for Porzingis beyond the Finals stage since Dallas traded the big man away two years ago to the Wizards. Boston acquired Porzingis back in July and he averaged a career best 51.6 percent from the field shooting to help Boston to a 64-win season and the best record in the NBA.
Against a sizable front court in Dallas with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively at center, Porzingis will be a valuable weapon for Boston to help draw those bigs out of the paint.
“They protect the rim really well and they’re malleable,” Mazzulla said. “Like, they’ll change. They’ll change matchups, they’ll change coverages. They have a bunch of different ways that they can force you into overthinking, force you into taking the shots or making the plays that you don’t necessarily want to take. I think they did a good job of that in the first half last night. So they have an innate ability to change on the fly and they do a lot of things really, really well. So they’re well-coached and well-prepared in that and their players really buy into the effort that it takes to protect the rim to make multiple efforts to execute at a high level.”
The Celtics will have three more scheduled practices for Porzingis ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
