Kristaps Porzingis participated in a scrimmage on the finish of Wednesday’s observe as he continues to recuperate from his calf damage and the Celtics middle stated he believes he’s able to return for his or her subsequent sport on Friday in opposition to the Knicks.
Porzingis regarded good within the full-court scrimmage – which included teammates like Dalano Banton, Lamar Stevens, Svi Mykhailiuk and Neemias Queta, along with a number of Celtics coaches – as he wore a black sleeve on his left leg. The massive man has missed 4 video games as a result of a left calf pressure however the expectation is that he’ll be again on Friday when the Celtics return to TD Garden.
“I believe so. I believe so,” Porzingis stated. “I haven’t talked to the medical staff yet but I think, after what I did today, should be good to go.”
Added Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla: “We’ll see how he responds (Thursday) but he’s progressed really well and we expect him to be ready. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, so I don’t know what he said, but he looked good out there today.”
Friday will mark two weeks since Porzingis suffered his calf damage on Nov. 24, when he left throughout the third quarter of the Celtics’ loss to the Magic. While Porzingis stated the damage was not critical, the Celtics appeared to take a cautious strategy with him. He was not tempted to return for Monday’s In-Season Tournament sport in opposition to the Pacers though he traveled with the crew.
Kristaps Porzingis is on the court docket and scrimmaging with some Celtics gamers and coaches pic.twitter.com/iqQiCL45Xu
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“If I could have gone I would have went,” Porzingis stated. “So yeah, it is what it is. And it’s also like, I listen to professionals at this. If you asked me, I would have maybe kept playing in the Orlando game. But they know what they’re doing and I’m just trusting them.”
If he does return Friday, Porzingis is not sure if he’ll be on a minutes restriction.
“I’m not a big fan of the minutes restriction,” Porzingis stated. “I always, when I’m back, I want to be back and play full minutes. But we’ll see. Of course, they have a plan and we’ll see what kind of feedback I get after today and go from there.”
Either means, Porzingis’ return will definitely be much-welcomed. The Celtics have performed largely properly in Porzingis’ absence, however have been uncovered in some moments. Their third quarter issues have continued. They had been abysmal in crunch time of Monday’s loss to the Pacers, an space that has seen some enchancment this season with the addition of Porzingis.
But 20 video games into the season, it’s much more vital for the Celtics’ beginning 5 to develop extra chemistry for the long-term. Because of accidents to each Jrue Holiday and Porzingis, the beginning 5 has solely performed 58 minutes collectively over the Celtics’ final 10 video games, in comparison with 133 minutes over the primary 10 video games.
“I believe we have a lot of room to grow, because of the talent that we have,” Porzingis stated. “We’re already taking part in good basketball, however we imagine, nonetheless, we are able to we are able to obtain many ranges. …
“I think more of just building chemistry as a team. Again, I’m added to this team, it’s something different, guys are getting used to playing with me, but you already see some glimpses of me and (Jaylen Brown), (Jayson Tatum), and all of us just getting a feel for each other. Jrue is here too, so it’s something new and we’re working to build that chemistry throughout the year.”
Identity search
Before this season started, Mazzulla made an emphasis that he wished the Celtics to pressure extra turnovers. The Celtics ranked twenty seventh within the turnovers compelled per sport final season, and Mazzulla seen that as an space of enchancment in an effort to create extra possessions.
But it’s not going properly up to now. Through 20 video games, the Celtics have really been worse in that space this season, rating twenty eighth within the league with simply 12.2 turnovers per sport. It hasn’t appeared to have an effect on their defensive capability – the Celtics are second within the league in defensive ranking – and Mazzulla continues to be calculating what his crew’s defensive id ought to seem like.
“It’s a tough one,” Mazzulla stated of the Celtics’ low turnovers compelled fee. “It’s one thing that you just actually, actually must decide to constantly. It’s a matter of like, what’s the DNA of our defensive id versus what can we realistically be actually good at over a protracted time frame, and so it’s nonetheless one thing that we’re working to do is a few of our defensive changes.
“Obviously you can always get better at the little things. Your ball pressure, your active hands, trying to get deflections, but we’ve cleaned up a lot of other areas that we haven’t been great at over the years like our offensive rebounding, our crashing and stuff, and so really deciding is it the true DNA of our team or is it more about can we get better at having some different adjustments that we can go to and be good at those?”
Mazzulla stated that forcing turnovers just isn’t one thing that may be managed, and steered it simply may not be a power of his crew and they need to concentrate on creating success in different methods.
“You almost have to sell out to that (forcing turnovers), so to speak, or have certain types of guys where for us we can get better at our decision making, our offensive execution which keeps our turnovers down,” Mazzulla stated. “We’ve really grown in our crashing and our offensive rebounding, so we’ve found a couple other areas to help control the shot margin and so I think it’s focused around what makes sense and what puts our team in the best position to be successful.” …
Holiday got here up limping on the finish of Monday’s loss to the Pacers and was grabbing at his knee, however appears to be OK. Mazzulla stated the guard went via Wednesday’s observe.
Source: www.bostonherald.com