Celtics continue to play clock for Kristaps Porzingis

Game 4 quickly eclipsed the equation Kristaps Porzingis, victim of a tear in the medial retinaculum but paradoxically fit and present on the bench… where he remained during the entire match. The hope of seeing him again for Game 5 is still there, even if the training the day before the match has not really dispelled doubts about a possible return, this evening or even later if the series were to extend .

On the contrary, in the training images, the Latvian interior appears very limited in his freedom of movement, with the same protection completely covering his right leg. Little momentum, no running, KP remained on very light training, showing more presence than anything else. Before training, Joe Mazzulla tried to play for time, ensuring that he still had to speak to his player in order to get a more precise idea, and convinced that the interior was doing its best to be in the game this Monday evening . The person concerned, for his part, preferred to avoid the “media” box.

Questioned on the subject, Payton Pritchard displayed the same facade speech, on the desire of the interior to return as quickly as possible.

“He clearly wants to play. He's a big competitor. I know he's going to do everything in his power to come back and put his jersey back on.” declared the leader. “He's an incredible player, someone who means a lot to us and who gives us big relays. The fact that he is there, on a human level, is huge for us. We’re lucky to have him.”

Xavier Tillman puts his foot down

Same story for Jrue Holiday, who is waiting for the situation to settle without really being able to say more. “We miss him a lot. He's one of the three best players on our team. He brings scoring, defense near the circle, countering… It's great to play with him, and we would like him to be with us.

His back-up at post 5 Xavier Tillman took less precaution, slipping for his part that he saw clearly that Kristaps Porzingis was not really comfortable in his movements, and especially that the risk of worsening his injury was very present if he were to play again, even for a short and “specific” situation as Joe Mazzulla had suggested before Game 4.

“I don't know, when we're in training, that kind of thing, he does certain things, but you can always see that he's very uncomfortable, so we don't want to put him in a situation where he could really get hurt“, did he slip.

As it stands, the return to the field of Kristaps Porzingis, whose status was still listed as “uncertain” yesterday, would be more of a miracle than anything else, even if anything would remain possible if you read the declarations from his camp.

How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.