‘Worth the wait,’ Kristaps Porzingis makes season debut in Celtics blowout

Apparently for the previous week, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla knew that star heart Kristaps Porzingis could be making his season debut on Monday towards the Los Angeles Clippers.

As for the remainder of us, we solely came upon about eight hours earlier than tipoff, when Celtics Wire’s Cameron Tabatabaie broke the information.

Porzingis hadn’t performed since Recreation 5 of the NBA Finals, earlier than suiting up towards the Clippers. He had been working his approach again from a torn medial retinaculum permitting dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg, all through the summer time and opening months of this season.

“It has been killing me inside not to have the ability to be on the market, but it surely was definitely worth the wait,” he advised NBC Boston’s Abby Chin in his walk-off interview after the win.

Many had anticipated him to return nearer to Christmas Day, but it surely was clear very early on that it wouldn’t take that lengthy, based on Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens.

“I don’t assume we realized it till we actually received into camp and you then see him work,” mentioned Stevens on Monday’s NBC Sports activities Boston broadcast. “Once we noticed him in Abu Dhabi, the best way he was shifting and the best way he felt, it was fairly apparent he was going to be on the entrance finish of that timeline.”

Stevens additionally revealed that KP had scrimmaged in Washington final Thursday, after working towards with the Maine Celtics earlier within the week.

These two classes clearly helped him prepare, as a result of he slot in with the Cs seamlessly.

“It felt like nothing like simply ‘increase, I’m again within the within the lineup,’” he mentioned. “I believe we already, truthfully, it was already a reasonably easy transition final season, once I began enjoying for the primary time after which as soon as we discovered somewhat little bit of rhythm… it was very pure to me for me to be again out within the within the beginning lineup.”

The massive man completed the evening with 16 factors, six rebounds, and a pair of blocks, whereas taking pictures 6-12 from the sphere in his season debut.

“I believed he performed nicely,” mentioned Joe Mazzulla. “Simply be capable of get again to a few of our defensive versatility. Clearly, somewhat little bit of rim safety, somewhat bit extra physicality on the ball, as a result of it was again there, and so I believed he introduced that offensively. Simply actually helped our spacing. So, it was good to get him again.”

It was clear that Boston wished to get him concerned proper from the opening tip. They featured Porzingis within the offense with some early pick-and-pop actions. He solely sank one of many 4 triples that he took, however not one of the photographs have been pressured and all got here as clear appears to be like. After about seven minutes of play, he took a relaxation earlier than re-entering the sport within the second quarter.

This was the primary time the place he REALLY seemed like himself, to not say that he seemed misplaced or something, it simply takes a bit to get snug once more on the market.

“However, I imply, clearly the primary wind is fairly loopy,” Porzingis defined. “You understand, lungs burning, legs burning all the things.”

He showcased his shot-blocking skill with a loud block on former Windfall School star Kris Dunn, which pressured a 24-second violation.

Just a few possessions later, we received our first “Cookies and Cream” connection of the season as KP threw down an enormous alley-oop slam off of a lob from Jaylen Brown, despite the fact that, based on him, his legs have been drained.

“Even on the couple of lobs. Like, JB threw me a lob, Payton threw me lob, like, each of them I had flat tires, like loopy. Like, didn’t stand up in any respect.”

Though KP’s tires have been flat, his presence was nonetheless appreciated. Brown pointed to his presence on protection as an actual difference-maker.

“We’re a unique workforce with KP on the market defensively and defending the room, and protection is vital for us. You understand, I believe we sort of took our foot off of gasoline within the third quarter, and we’ll work on that. However after we’re locked in enjoying protection, like how we began the sport, after which that second quarter, it’s gonna be powerful for groups, so we simply received to maintain that mentality, and that’s what I need to see from guys. I need to see KP making an affect on protection.”

Regardless of the Cs scoring a whopping 51 factors within the second quarter, they struggled to start out the second half. Boston’s 29-point lead was minimize to 18 with about seven minutes remaining within the body. Porzingis helped to climate the continuing storm with six fast factors, displaying the added offensive punch that Mazzulla talked about. He first showcased his post-game, then received to the free throw line, and eventually capped the sequence with a thunderous dunk.

Though the stakes weren’t excessive right here, it was nice to see Kristaps’ worth on full show throughout a tense stretch for the workforce. It’s powerful to fathom how a workforce that was 14-3 earlier than Porzingis’ return can re-unlock an entire new stage of play, but it surely was so evident on this one.