Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis returned to the court for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, playing through a rare left leg injury that he told ESPN will require surgery and have a recovery process of a “few months.”
Porzingis suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in Game 2 — an injury the team described as “rare” in its news release.
But after missing Games 3 and 4 in Dallas, he returned to play 16 minutes in Boston’s series-deciding 106-88 victory Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks, scoring 5 points as he spelled center Al Horford off the bench and helped Boston claim its record-setting 18th NBA championship.
“Of course,” Porzingis told ESPN, when asked if he was concerned about making his injury worse by playing on it. “I think something could have happened, for sure, especially compensating now on the other leg now, which I just came back from.
“There was definitely some added risk, but I didn’t care. I was like, ‘I want to give everything I can and then fix it after if I need to.'”
Porzingis, who had missed over five weeks with a calf strain he suffered in Game 4 of Boston’s first-round series against the Miami Heat, returned to play well in Games 1 and 2 of the Finals against the Mavericks, the team that traded him away two and a half years ago in what amounted to a salary dump.
Boston acquired Porzingis a year ago in response to losing in the Eastern Conference finals to the Heat, sending out fan favorite and former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart in the deal. Porzingis went on to average 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Celtics during the regular season.