Kristaps Porzingis indicated on his Instagram account that he got encouraging results from an MRI today on his left calf, tweets Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Porzingis suffered a calf strain that forced him out of Friday’s game in Orlando, but he posted, “Good news this morning. Be back very soon.”
Injuries have been a frequent concern for Porzingis over the past six years, but he has been healthy so far in his first season with the Celtics. He has appeared in 15 of the team’s first 16 games, with his lone absence caused by a bruised knee. Porzingis walked “gingerly” to the team bus after Friday’s contest, but he didn’t seem worried that it might be a long-term injury, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
“I felt a bit of something in my calf and just kept playing,” Porzingis said. “I felt like, OK, it’s some kind of strain or tightness, something happened there and you saw me limping a little bit. The medical staff pulled me out after that.”
Porzingis has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against Atlanta.
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Jayson Tatum is upset with the NBA’s new emphasis on preventing players from hanging on the rim, Washburn adds. Tatum received a technical foul Friday for holding the rim too long after a dunk, but Washburn points out that it won’t count toward a possible suspension because it doesn’t deal with sportsmanship. “That’s a rule that they implemented that quite frankly I don’t think makes any sense,” Tatum said. “Because anybody who has ever played or dunked the ball, your momentum, you just try to make sure that you are stable when you land. You don’t want anyone underneath you. Maybe they just want me to let go and just land on my back.”
- Jaylen Brown is responding to coach Joe Mazzulla’s desire for his players to be more versatile and find ways to contribute when they aren’t scoring, Washburn states in a separate story. Brown’s shot attempts have declined with the addition of Porzingis, but he has averaged nearly four assists per game in November and handed out eight in Wednesday’s win over Milwaukee. “It’s a new year, a new season, and I feel like I’m playing some of my best basketball in how I’m seeing the floor and I get into a flow and rhythm of things and I feel like I’ll be able to continue to do that,” Brown said. “I think when I get more guys playing off me, trusting that I’m going to make the right read, we should go to that a lot more.”
- Friday’s loss means Boston no longer controls its destiny in Group C of the in-season tournament, notes Souchi Terada of MassLive. The Celtics need to hope for a three-way tie with Orlando and Brooklyn, giving them an opportunity to advance on point differential.