The center of the Boston Celtics Kristaps Porzingis he returned to the court for game 5 of the NBA Finals after leaving the court in the second act of the series with the Dallas Mavericks. The Latvian had already missed a good part of the Playoffs for the injury suffered to the right calf in game 4 of the first round against the Miami Heat and then returned and dominated the first game of the 2024 NBA Finals with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in 20 minutes of play.
As mentioned, Porzingis then had to deal with another injury – this time to his left leg – which according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst had never been seen before in the NBA:
“[…] There has never been a record of an injury like this in the NBA.”
Despite the problems encountered during these Playoffs, Porzingis he decided to bite the bullet and take to the field anyway to help his teammates lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy:
“I knew very well that, having recovered from the problem with my other leg, I risked compensating for my weight and posture by hurting myself even more. But I didn’t care, I wanted to give everything I had, with the idea that I would then think about getting treatment.”
In the decisive game 5 Porzingis played only 16 minutes scoring 5 points with 2/4 shooting.
Now he will need surgery to treat the injury he suffered and will certainly miss the pre-Olympic games with his national team. The Latvian will then need a long rehabilitation process in order to recover, but as also admitted by the person concerned, it doesn’t matter in light of the victory of the NBA title:
“I don’t care, winning the title was the most important thing and it was certainly absolutely worth it.”
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