Kristaps Porzingis will miss a minimum of one week after the large man suffered a left calf pressure in Friday’s loss to the Magic, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla stated on Sunday.
Porzingis left throughout the third quarter of Friday’s loss and didn’t return after he felt some tightness. He didn’t assume the harm was severe, posting on Instagram on Saturday that he acquired excellent news after reportedly having an MRI. But the large man will miss a number of video games earlier than the Celtics re-evaluate him.
“I think it’s just a matter of how he feels,” Mazzulla stated. “How it kind of heals when people look at it again after a week or so.”
Porzingis will possible miss a minimum of three video games – Sunday’s sport in opposition to the Hawks, Tuesday’s matchup with the Bulls and Friday’s tilt with the 76ers – as he heals his harm. But it’s doable he doesn’t miss greater than that because of a tweak within the schedule because of the In-Season Tournament. If the Celtics don’t qualify for the quarterfinals of the event, their subsequent sport after Friday wouldn’t come till the next Wednesday because the C’s would get 4 days off.
Still, there shall be a giant adjustment with out Porzingis, who has match seamlessly with the Celtics offensively offering a brand new dimension and defensively as a rim protector. They struggled on the inside in Friday’s loss after Porzingis left the sport, because the Magic transformed 13 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance factors and scored 60 factors within the paint. Al Horford will begin in his absence, with Luke Kornet getting some elevated taking part in day without work the bench.
“We created an identity last year of playing small with our shift activity and our ball pressure and our individual defense, so regardless of if there’s a five on the perimeter or not, we just have to continue to take pride in our individual defense,” Mazzulla stated on what modifications with out Porzingis. “I believe that comes from our shift exercise, understanding who you’re guarding, are you able to assist cease the ball and get out to a shooter? …
“it’s going to look different without (Porzingis), but Al and Luke do a great job, we’ve had good defenses with those guys for numerous years now, so it may look a little bit different, and just everyone’s gotta be a little bit better.”
No danger taken
The Celtics are in peril of lacking out on the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament even when they beat the Bulls of their group play finale on Tuesday. A win would create a tie with the Magic on the high of the group with 3-1 information, however the Magic personal the head-to-head tiebreaker. There could possibly be a three-way tie if the Nets beat the Raptors, and the second tiebreaker would go to level differential.
Heading into Tuesday’s sport, the Celtics have a degree differential of 0, whereas the Nets are at plus-8 and the Magic completed at plus-22. The C’s would want to blow out the Bulls to have an opportunity to win the group.
The Celtics misplaced by 17 in Friday’s loss to the Magic and Mazzulla emptied the bench late within the sport. Though the purpose differential equation was one thing he was conscious of, he determined it wasn’t well worth the danger of his starters staying within the sport.
“I thought about it but at the end of the day, Jrue (Holiday) was out, we had lost Porzingis. I wasn’t willing to risk a point differential for the sake of the long-term health of our team,” Mazzulla stated. “That was kind of the decision that I made there. It’s obviously something that you process and go through.”
Tip-ins
Jrue Holiday missed his second consecutive sport Sunday because of the ankle sprain he suffered in Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks. The guard went by warmups previous to Sunday’s sport however was later dominated out. … Dalano Banton made his first Celtics begin Sunday in opposition to the Hawks in Holiday’s absence.
Source: www.bostonherald.com