In Game 4 of the first round between Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, the green-and-whites lost Kristaps Porzingis for a muscle injury. Tests revealed a strained right soleus muscle, with recovery time difficult to accurately estimate. This is the same injury suffered by Giannis Antetokounmpo on April 10.: the Greek has not returned since, missing the last 3 regular season games and the entire series against Indiana so far.
Before tonight’s Game 5, Chris Haynes tried to give a timeline more accurate. According to the TNT reporter, Porzingis is expected to return for the eventual Conference Finals.. That is, not only did the Latvian miss tonight’s contest, but he will definitely not play in the Conference Semifinals against the winner of the series between Cleveland and Orlando. Boston ended the RS with the best record in the entire NBA, so in any case it will start favored in the next round as well. Who knows, though, that the absence of Porzingis, 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds average this year, might not really weigh in.
On the season, Kristaps Porzingis has played 57 out of 82 games, also a good number if we consider that, since the 2016-17 season, only once has he played more (last year, 65 with Washington).
Kristaps Porzingis is expected to make a return if the Celtics make the Eastern Conference Finals. @ChrisBHaynes provides an update from Game 5: pic.twitter.com/0iGOGABOMo
– NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 1, 2024
Milan, Italy. A graduate in Labor Management and Communication for Organizations from Catholic University, I founded BasketUniverso in 2011. Yes, I root for Orlando Magic and do my best not to hide it.
