Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis Admits This Restriction Heading Into Game 2

Kristaps Porzingis came off the bench for the Celtics against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.

The Celtics’ big man scored 20 points, collected six rebounds and had three blocks in 21 minutes for Boston.

Porzingis admitted he is restricted in minutes when he met with the media after practice on Saturday, simply stating, “Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate further on what that restriction looked like, just how he felt after Game 1.

“I feel pretty good. Yeah, feel good,” Porzingis said, per league-provided transcripts. “Not much more to add. Preparing my body for (Game 2).”

Having the extra day off between Games 1 and 2 can only benefit Porzingis who missed 10 games for the Celtics after suffering a right calf strain in the opening round of the playoffs.

“It’s huge. It’s huge, obviously,” Porzingis admitted. “But yeah, to be honest, the way I moved, looking back now at the game, and I don’t think I even expected myself to be able to be moving so well.”

Porzingis continued: “That was, again, a good sign for myself, and now having two days in between and preparing my body again, getting even probably better conditioning now for next game will be huge.”

Working back from the injury in time for Game 1 was as much about being mentally prepared as well as physically for Porzingis.

“Especially preparing myself all regular season for the playoffs and round one,” he said. “Something unfortunate happens, and staying mentally put and staying in the right place to have the chance to come back later in the playoffs, and of course, I wanted to come back earlier, but it didn’t work out that way. But here I am now, and healthy and able to put on a good game for my first game back.”

It’s unknown if Porzingis will come off the bench again in Game 2, but having him on the floor definitely gives the Mavericks a bigger challenge on defense.