Celtic Shares Concerning Details About Kristaps Porzingis’ Injury

The Celtics made Kristaps Porzingis available Friday night, which suggested the star big man made marked improvements in recovery from his latest injury.

That might not be the case, however.

Porzingis, who is dealing with a rare ankle ailment, didn’t end up playing in Game 4 in Dallas, where Boston lost in blowout fashion. In the lead-up to Game 5, Xavier Tillman was asked if he expects his teammate to play Monday night or at any point in the remainder of the series.

“We’ll see,” Tillman told reporters Sunday, per a video shared by CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell. “Obviously, like they said, it’s a rare leg injury. So obviously, if he’s going through excruciating pain, if he can’t be his best, it might not be worth it for everybody.”

Tillman added: “When we go through our practices and stuff like that, he’s doing some stuff but you can still tell he’s very uncomfortable. Like I said, we don’t want to put him in any type of situation that could really hurt him.”

The backup forward also noted how Porzingis has looked “pretty much the same” since he started rehabbing the injury but acknowledged he’s “not a trainer.” Boston on Sunday officially listed Porzingis as questionable for Game 5 at TD Garden.

The Celtics, who are 10-2 without Porzingis this postseason, can win the NBA Finals with a victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.