Celtics

Kristaps Porzingis overruled Celtics’ medical staff in order to play Game 5

"When it was Game 5 at home it was like, ‘Hey, this might be it; I gotta be out there.'"

Kristaps Porzingis managed to play 16 minutes in Game 5 on Monday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

June 20, 2024

Kristaps Porzingis left it all out on the court during Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Clearly hobbled with a “rare” ankle injury that prevented him from playing in Games 3 and 4, Porzingis still managed to log 16 minutes in Boston’s clinching win over the Dallas Mavericks — scoring five points and adding a rebound off the bench.

“I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to play, if I’m going to play,” Porzingis said after Boston secured its 18th championship. “But my mindset was always, I’m going to try to find a way how I can manage this.

“And, yeah, somehow I got it going for this game. A lot of it was for sure like the adrenaline from just playing at the Garden and playing in front of our fans and having that opportunity to close it out. And, man, I got it going.”

Porzingis wasn’t going to miss out on a chance to help put the Celtics over the top on Monday night. But if it was up to the Celtics’ medical staff, the 7-foot-2 center would have been planted on the bench for Boston’s final game of the season.

Speaking on “Pardon My Take” on Wednesday, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged that Porzingis overruled Boston’s medical staff in order to get back out on the parquet floor in Game 5.

“It was like, ‘We don’t know how long this series is going to go on for, so let’s save him from himself. He’s trying to play, so let’s see if he can get through a game or two,’” Mazzulla said of Porzingis. “When it was Game 5 at home it was like, ‘Hey, this might be it; I gotta be out there.

“So he was like, ‘Hey, I’m playing.’ So he overrode the medical team there and was like, I’m playing. So credit to him.”

Porzingis had a frustrating postseason despite Boston’s eventual title conquest. Along with the ankle injury that he suffered during Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the skilled center also missed more than a month of action after getting sidelined with a calf strain in Boston’s first-round series against the Heat.

Even though Porzinigs managed to gut his way through limited minutes in Game 5, he’s scheduled to undergo offseason surgery in order to correct his ailing ankle.

“He had a serious, serious injury,” Mazzulla said. “He worked his ass off to get back, and what he brought for us in Game 5 was unbelievable and really led to winning. We have a guy that — in his career — has been through a lot, and sacrificed a lot. You want him to be a part of it.”

Porzingis was technically active for Boston in Game 4 — a potential clinching game that quickly went south for the Celtics via a 122-84 loss. With Boston getting run out of the building at American Airlines Center, Mazzulla and the Celtics opted to not push Porzingis and play him in a lopsided defeat.

But had Boston managed to flip the script and put Dallas on the ropes in Game 4, Mazzulla admitted that the Celtics would have likely put Porzingis on the court in Dallas for at least a minute or two in order to give him a chance to celebrate a championship clincher as an active player.

“If we were winning, I would’ve put him in the game for a minute or two,” Mazzulla said. “Just because he sacrificed his whole career to get to this point. To not be a part of it would’ve devastated him.”