A quick trip to South Beach after a seven-game homestand kept the Boston Celtics busy for the past couple of weeks. They took down the Miami Heat after a 5-2 stint at TD Garden before traveling to the Big Apple for a date with the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night—a game highlighted by the return of Kristaps Porzingis
The Latvian big man missed all seven games at home, as well as the game in Miami, marking Saturday night in Brooklyn as his first appearance in eight games. He was dealing with an illness, though, per his own tweet, the Celtics are still unsure what it was.
But in his return to the court, Porzingis made one thing clear. And it only took him one half to do so.
Kristaps Porzingis looked good to go vs. Nets, but needs time to refind his form
It was announced that Porzingis would play in this game less than an hour before tip-off, meaning the anticipation was palpable. A sea of green filled up Barclays Center, and when Porzingis came out for his pre-game warm-ups, he received a phenomenal ovation. The same can be said for when his name was announced in the starting lineup.
Once the action started, a couple of facts became clear—Porzingis was extremely active, but he needs a bit of time to get readjusted.
From an energy lens, Porzingis was great. He was diving for loose balls, going up for alley-oops, and battling down low for rebounds, all of which are good signs for the big man’s health and effectiveness moving forward.
That said, he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. He was 4-of-4 from inside the arc but a brutal 3-of-3 from inside it, and none of his deep-ball attempts were particularly close.
It will likely take Porzingis a little bit to refind his shot, as not playing for a couple of weeks is enough to take even the best of players out of their rhythm. The same happened when Porzingis returned from offseason surgery in late November. It took him and the rest of the starting lineup a bit of time to get used to playing with each other again.
But while his shot wasn’t quite there, Porzingis definitely looked up to the task. And his off-the-court vibes were just as fun to see.
Porzingis was coughing a bit throughout his pre-game warm-ups, and it looked as though assistant coach DJ MacLeay was keeping tabs on him during the first half, making sure he was doing alright.
That said, Porzingis’ first half made one thing clear—he’s good to go, but it may take some time for him to get back into true form (on the court).
