Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis Wanted To ‘Punish’ Former Team With Mismatches

The Boston Celtics rallied from a seven-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Washington Wizards 133-129 at TD Garden on Friday night.

For Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis, it was a chance to exploit his former team’s mismatches while trying to guard him.

“I wanted to make them pay, right?” Porzingis told Abby Chin, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “They just traded away their five man also, and they don’t really have a big man so, those are the type of games that Joe (Mazzulla), Brad (Stevens) and the front office brought me here for to punish those mismatches and create some advantage here for us and that’s what I did tonight.”

Porzingis shot 50% from the field, connecting on 9-of-18, along with a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line. His 34 points were second to Jayson Tatum, who led all scorers with 35 points.

The Celtics held the Wizards to just 16 points in the third quarter after Washington dropped 71 in the first half.

“To be honest, I don’t think it was all that bad in the first half,” Porzingis said. “They did have some non-shooters make some open shots which we gave them, but the second half, we knew we had to take away their transition. That’s what they try to do: run fast, shoot crazy shots, and make them. Second half we turned up our intensity and held them to 16.”

Boston closed out their seven-game homestand on a high note, going 5-2 over during that stretch.

“Could have been better, to be honest,” Porzingis said. “Could have been better, but we’re getting wins. We’re getting wins, and we won a tough game against Atlanta. We won a tough game against these guys that played very hard. … Those are tough games, and most important, we come out with a win.”

The Celtics are back in action when they have a rematch against the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat on Sunday. Boston won the first meeting between the two clubs, 119-111, in October.