NEW YORK — For the second straight game Saturday night, Kristaps Porzingis filled the unfamiliar role of bench player for the Celtics.
With the big man still feeling the effects of the viral illness he contracted in late February, head coach Joe Mazzulla opted to start Al Horford and limit Porzingis’ minutes in Game 3 against the New York Knicks, just as he did in Boston’s Game 2 loss three nights earlier.
Though Porzingis was a super-sub for the Celtics during last year’s NBA Finals, when he was dealing with lower leg injuries, he entered this second-round series having started all but four of the games he’d played over his 10-year NBA career.
Porzingis’ shooting struggles persisted Saturday — after an 0-for-3 showing, he’s now shooting 33% from the field and 15.8% from three this postseason — but he was impactful as a rim protector with three blocks and four rebounds. The Celtics outscored the Knicks by 11 points over his 19 minutes, the best mark of any bench player, en route to a 115-93 victory at Madison Square Garden.
“He gave us some good stuff,” Mazzulla said. “Both ends of the floor, rim protection, his screening offensively — everybody got some good stuff out of that. I appreciate him. Keep battling through.”
Mazzulla said before the game that Porzingis “felt better” on Friday and would “give it a go.”
Though the exact nature of Porzingis’ illness has not been reported, ESPN’s Shams Charania shared new details about his condition during the network’s pregame coverage.
“He felt that he had actually turned a corner right as the playoffs started in mid-April, but in his own words, he had a crash right before Game 1 of this series,” Charania said. “He’s tried a lot of different things to try to mitigate the side effects. I’m told he’s been receiving IVs, immune boosters. He’s even changed up his sleep patterns to try to get more rest. He’s essentially waking up every day hoping and praying that he feels better.”
Porzingis said after Game 2 on Wednesday that he’s “just not feeling (his) best” and that it “just kills (him) inside that it’s happening in this moment.” Though he’s appeared in all eight of the Celtics’ playoff games, he has not logged more than 22 minutes since Game 3 of Boston’s first-round series against Orlando and has been sub-20 in all three Knicks matchups.
“Because of the type of talent that he is and who he is as a player, you’d rather have him, and you feel his absence because of his versatility and what he’s able to do on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla said on Thursday. “Our depth is a strength of what we have. At the same time, to have a guy like KP, you want to have him as much as you can. So we’ll look at KP to try to do that, and I know he’s doing what he can to make sure he’s available.”
Horford picked up the slack by playing 35 minutes in Game 3. The 38-year-old went 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from three, finishing with 15 points, nine rebounds, one assist and two blocks.
