Kristaps Porzingis‘ status is uncertain after he tore the medial retinaculum in his left leg. How does the injury change the series? Can the Celtics still sweep? Our NBA insiders break down the latest.
DALLAS — The NBA Finals got a major shakeup the day before Game 3 (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC) with the Boston Celtics announcing Kristaps Porzingis had suffered a „rare injury,“ putting his status for Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks — and the rest of the series — in doubt.
Porzingis has a torn medial retinaculum in his left leg, but he told reporters Tuesday that he’d do whatever it took to play. However, Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said the final decision would be left in the hands of the team doctors.
Porzingis had missed five weeks with a right calf injury heading into the Finals, but he returned for Game 1 and is averaging 16 points on 60% shooting to go along with 2.5 blocks per game in this series, helping the Celtics take a 2-0 lead over the Mavericks in Boston.
What will this mean for the Celtics and Mavericks? Our NBA insiders break it all down.
Tim Bontemps: Concerning. The Celtics have put themselves in a strong position to close out the Finals. Boston is plus-25 in the 44 minutes Porzingis has played in this series, and it is even in the 52 minutes he has not. It was already going to be a challenge to control this series on the road the way Boston did in the first two games at TD Garden, but the difficulty level just went up with Porzingis‘ uncertain status.
Tim MacMahon: Perplexing. Maybe that’s because the Celtics‘ announcement used a bunch of big words that I didn’t learn during my eight-year college tenure to describe the injury. I was also a bit confused by Mazzulla calling it a „serious injury“ but Porzingis being listed as day-to-day.
It’s also unfortunately ironic, considering how injuries were a big factor in Porzingis‘ disappointing Dallas tenure — and that he hasn’t played a game at American Airlines Center since being traded at the 2022 deadline.
Dave McMenamin: A reminder. As bleak as things might have seemed after falling down 2-0 in Boston, having the series shift back to Dallas and possibly facing a Celtics team missing Porzingis could be just the crack in the doorway the Mavs needed to walk through and make this a competitive series.
