Kristaps Porzingis’ return to action continues to be postponed. The Latvian, absent since the first round due to a soleus injury, has been ruled out by the Celtics for the fourth game of the tie against the Indiana Pacers, so Joe Mazzulla’s men will have to face their first opportunity to qualify for the Finals without him. In this way, an ailment that in principle was not going to keep him out for too long continues to get complicated, although for now everything indicates that the player is improving.
In fact, a few days ago ESPN They pointed out the possibility that it would be ready precisely for this Game 4, but in the end that will not be the case. It is not clear if this was due to the victory in the third game, which gave the Massachusetts team quite a margin, or because the Latvian was really not as good as he seemed, doubts that we will resolve in the next matches. If the Celtics win, Kristaps will have until June 6 to recover, but if they lose, his return may take place in just three days.
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The truth is that life without Porzingis has not gone bad for Boston, which has a record of 8-1 since the moment of his injury and is already a foot and a half in the NBA Finals. Al Horford has taken an important step forward and the team has barely suffered from the loss of one of its pillars, but this could change in a hypothetical Finals, in which, either against the Mavericks or the Timberwolves, they will face rivals of greater importance than those they have faced until now. And they will want to have all the troops to fight for the ring.
The Latvian has averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, and his versatility in scoring from the three-point range as well as from the inside perfectly complements the team’s lethal offense. Despite Horford’s good performance, there is no doubt that with him on the track they are much more lethal. But to see it in action again, we will have to keep waiting.
(Cover photo: Paul Rutherford/Getty Images)
2024-05-27 07:00:00
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