After being sidelined for the last handful of games, Kristaps Porzingis made his return to the court on Monday night against the Detroit Pistons, reassuring many Boston Celtics fans that his injury isn’t too severe.
Porzingis scored 20-points on 7-of-14 shooting and grabbed eight-rebounds in 21-minutes, as head coach Joe Mazzulla altered the rotation for Porzingis in his first game back.
He played 6:12 in the first quarter, did not play at all in the second quarter, and then played the entire third quarter before logging around three-minutes in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Porzingis said that he felt discomfort after playing Denver on Mar. 7 but he didn’t say anything until Mar. 9 prior to the first game against Phoenix this month when he realized that he was still feeling the discomfort.
The discomfort in his hamstring caused Boston to sideline Porzingis for five-games, mostly due to precautionary measures, as he explains here:
The good thing is that Porzingis didn’t miss a beat in his return. He scored eight of Boston’s first 12-points before Detroit called a timeout under five-minutes into the game.
Porzingis seems good to go. Nobody is running at 100 percent health at this point in the year and Boston’s managed him well throughout season in hopes that he’ll be ready to shine for a lengthy playoff run.
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