The Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat 102-88 in Game 4 on Monday to take a 3-1 series lead, but they may have lost Kristaps Porzingis in the process.
Porzingis exited late in the second quarter with right calf tightness, the Celtics announced. He appeared to roll his opposite ankle a few possessions and was noticeably limping before pulling up lame with the calf injury. In a positive bit of news, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Porzingis will undergo imaging on Tuesday, but as it stands, it does not appear that he’s suffered an Achilles injury.
In the moment, it didn’t look great. It was non-contact, and Porzingis had his head buried in his jersey as he limped to the locker room. It’s now a big-picture situation for Boston, which, barring a catastrophic collapse, has Miami series in hand and can begin prioritizing Porzingis’ long-term postseason outlook.
We’ll wait to see what, exactly, Porzingis is dealing with, but if it’s concerning at all, you’d have to imagine there’s no way he plays in Game 5 on Wednesday, and moving forward it’s worth questioning whether the Celtics would consider sitting Porzingis for their presumed second-round series against either Cleveland or Orlando.
Neither of those teams should be able to threaten Boston even without Porzingis, who becomes a major necessity starting in the conference finals, where, as it looks right now, Boston could be facing the Knicks. Beyond that, certainly Porzingis would be needed in the Finals should Boston make it that far.
So yeah, prioritizing Porzingis’ long-term postseason outlook will likely be the play for Boston no matter how this diagnosis comes back, but let’s all hope for positive news as we’ve had enough injuries already take their toll on this postseason.
News Summary:
- Kristaps Porzingis injury: Celtics big man (calf tightness) to undergo imaging Tuesday
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