BOSTON — Kristaps Porzingis kicked off his season debut for the Celtics on Monday night with a wrestling-style entrance from the tunnel to the delight of his teammates.
“KP is a legend. Did you see his walkout?” Jaylen Brown asked reporters after the Celtics blowout win. “That’s just him. So he definitely brings that swagger to our team and that energy and it was great to have him back out there.”
Porzingis’ return went without a hitch as the center picked up where he left off with teammates after five months away from the court. The big man finished with 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 23 minutes, sitting the entire fourth quarter in Boston’s 126-94 win over the Clippers.
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“I felt great,” Porzingis said. “Obviously, was a pretty, not super long, but it was a long rehab, and I was itching to get back out there with this team after winning a championship. And yeah, it was a good beginning, good first game back.”
Porzingis underwent surgery last June for a repair of a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon after suffering the injury during Game 2 of the NBA Finals. The injury has rarely been seen across the NBA, making his return a bit of a question mark after a lengthy recovery process. The seven-footer made a bit of a surprising admission about his return in the wake of a successful debut in regards to the rehab itself.
“Honestly, I would say it was one of the easiest rehabs for me,” Porzingis said. “The only thing was that I had to stay off the ankle for four or six weeks, so it was tough. I was just doing one leg with the scooter, like, can’t even get up the stairs. So it was a little bit difficult from that perspective.
“But once that moment passed and I was able to walk, it honestly felt pretty natural. Just when I was playing, that Game 5, that’s when it didn’t feel natural. You could feel something just off. But once Dr. O’Malley fixed it, it obviously felt super natural and I just needed time to heal and get stronger. I would say it was one of my easiest rehabs.”
The Celtics had expressed optimism about Porzingis’ speedy recovery for weeks after initially targeting December as a potential return date. Porzingis took part in multiple scrimmages over the past week per sources but was trending toward a return even before those tuneups.
“Honestly, I started to feel pretty good, I would say, almost a month ago,” Porzingis said. “I would say the whole rehab was, I was ahead of it all the time. I was itching to do more, start more. Sprints, this, this, contact, one-on-one, so I was always asking the medical staff to do more.
“But I was still smart and we completed all the stages to get to this point, and I told them if you guys give me the green light and I can start playing, I want to do it as soon as possible. So, yeah, that was it. And I got here maybe even a month early, and it’s good to be back out there.”
The Celtics now will have a chance to ease Porzingis into the flow more with three off days before an NBA Cup game on Friday in Chicago. With Al Horford expected back in the lineup, Boston’s rotation will be back at full strength for the first time all season, giving the team a chance to build on its 15-3 start without leaning too much on the big man.
“It just adds different layers to what you do,” Joe Mazzulla said of his return. “But at the end of the day, we’re trying to be the best version of ourselves more than other people, and we have an understanding of what that looks like when we’re at our best. And we’re slowly getting there.”
