On Friday night against the Phoenix Suns, the Boston Celtics were fully healthy. But that only lasted three quarters. With 11:32 remaining in the fourth frame, Cody Martin rose up for a monster dunk at the rim. He missed the slam, but in the process, he hit Kristaps Porzingis across the face, sending both players crashing to the ground.
Porzingis was originally assessed a shooting foul, but Joe Mazzulla challenged the call, and it was reversed and changed to an offensive foul against Martin. After meeting a Celtics trainer at half-court, Porzingis went back to the locker room to be assessed.
Sporting a bloodied face, Porzingis waved his hands up and down, hyping up the Celtics crowd. A smile widened across his face as he walked into the tunnel, surrounded by loud cheers from TD Garden.
Kristaps Porzingis needed stitches after hit to face from Cody Martin in Celtics vs. Suns
Later in the fourth, Celtics PR released an update, ruling Porzingis questionable to return to the game. They noted that he suffered a cut across his nose and needed stitches as a result.
Before leaving the game, Porzingis put up 15 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one block while shooting 5-of-12 from the field and 2-of-5 from behind the three-point line.
After the game, Mazzulla praised Porzingis' physicality since getting healthy and returning to the lineup.
"Yeah, it's important," Mazzulla said. "I mean, he had the block tonight, also a grown basket, being physical there. And he was the spearhead of attacking their switching and getting deep post catches and getting to the free-throw line and fighting for space and fighting for those deep paint touches there. So, I think he's embraced that, really, on both ends of the floor. And tonight, he really showed that on the offensive end the floor, and then what he did defensively, meeting guys at the rim. It's important that we do that. And I'm grateful that he plays with that physicality."
Porzingis has missed a bunch of time this year with various injuries. His cut to the nose is simply the latest of the bunch.
At the beginning of the year, Porzingis missed a few weeks due to offseason foot surgery, returning in late November. Then, in late February and into early March, Porzingis missed eight games in a row with an illness, returning on March 15 against the Brooklyn Nets.
Based on his reaction to the issue (egging on the TD Garden crowd as he walked off the court), it seems as though Porzingis is in good spirits. While that doesn’t equate to an indication that he will be back on the court soon, it’s a good sign regarding how he’s feeling about the injury.
The Celtics only have five regular-season games left following their 123-103 win over the Suns on Friday night, and then they’ll get a small break before the playoffs due to the Play-In Tournament.
But considering the Celtics are virtually locked into the two seed in the Eastern Conference, they could give Porzingis some rest down the stretch of the regular season, especially if they want to give his stitches some time to heal.
