Celtics
“It just happens within the game and this is not going to stop me. So I’m going to keep going.”
The smile on Kristaps Porzingis’ face stood in stark contrast with the blood pouring down his forehead.
But as the 7-foot-2 star made his way off the court at TD Garden for some impromptu repairs, the roars of the TD Garden crowd eased the pain doled out by an errant elbow on Wednesday night.
“Honestly, how can I not come (back) out?” Porzingis said after Boston’s 109-100 Game 2 win over Orlando.
A Celtics team already playing without an injured Jayson Tatum had another scare on Wednesda.
The Celtics’ big man had to leave Boston’s matchup against the Magic in the third quarter after taking an elbow to his forehead, courtesy of Orlando’s Goga Bitadze.
Bitadze — who was ejected from a game against Boston in December after getting tangled up with Porzingis — was fighting for a loose ball with under a minute to go in the third quarter while he caught Porzingis clean in the head.
Bitadze’s elbow opened up a large gash in Porzingis’ forehead, prompting Porzingis to head down the tunnel at TD Garden.
After review, Bitadze was called for a flagrant 1 foul on the play, which called for Porzingis to return to the court to attempt his two free throws. The 29-year-old center/power forward — sporting a large bandage across his forehead and plenty of dried blood on the back of his head — made his way back on the parquet minutes later to a resounding cheer from the TD Garden crowd.
Porzingis sank one of his two free throws before immediately heading back down the tunnel for more treatment.
“I love my WWE moments, for sure,” Porzingis said of returning to the game. “It just happens in the game, you know? And then you know me, like, I always love engaging with the crowd.
“And I already knew, like getting hit again, blood again, like the crowd was going to just, you know, go with it. So it was cool. It was fun.”
Despite the initial carnage of Porzingis’ injury, he was not ruled out for the remainder of the contest. He received five stitches before returning to Boston’s bench later in the fourth quarter, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin.
He returned to the court with 7:15 to go in the fourth quarter — attempting one field goal and pulling down two rebounds — before exiting Boston’s eventual 109-100 Game 2 win with 44 seconds left in regulation.
As could be expected, Joe Mazzulla was impressed with Porzingis’ ability to push through his injury.
“I think he has an innate ability to take things very serious, and at the same time have great perspective,” Mazzulla said. “You see how he can control his environment really well with how he handles the crowd and how he handles the physicality of it, and he can maintain his poise, and he just has a great way about him. I think that that helps us.
“And yeah, I do. I love watching him. I like watching him bleed on the court. I think it’s important, and then he comes back in and does his job. So I do like that about him.”
With Tatum ruled out ahead of Wednesday’s game, Porzingis helped keep Boston afloat against Orlando with a strong performance. He finished the game with 20 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks over 34 minutes — sinking 10 of 14 shots from the free-throw line.
According to Celtics stats expert Dick Lipe, Porzingis is the first Celtic to ever record at least 14 FTA, five offensive rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in a playoff game.
For Porzingis, there was no question about whether or not he was going to return to close out the game.
“Like, ‘Oh, I have five stitches, I can’t play anymore.’ My legs work, everything works, so of course I’m going to be out there,” Porzingis said. “And you know me. I like these moments.”
The Celtics will now head down to Orlando up 2-0 in this best-of-seven series. Even with that early advantage, the Celtics already boast their fair share of bumps and bruisers in this matchup against the Magic, headlined by Porzingis’ cut and Tatum’s wrist injury.
But even if Orlando has been unapologetic about their physical mindset, Porzingis doesn’t expect the Celtics to back down from these types of matchups.
“We’re going to be us,” Porzingis said. “We’re not going to let anybody punk us. And we expect teams to be doing this kind of stuff, to get in our heads, to try to provoke us, to try to maybe get some reaction out of us, some technical maybe, something. It’s an emotional game, obviously, so we weren’t surprised but we’re just not going to take it. So we’re going to hit them right back.”
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