Joe Mazzulla, the head coach of the Boston Celtics, spoke to the media about the status of Kristaps Porzingis for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
On Friday evening, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics faced the Dallas Mavericks with a chance to secure the franchise’s first championship in 16 years by sweeping the series in Game 4. However, the Celtics delivered their worst performance of the postseason, leading to head coach Joe Mazzulla pulling Tatum and the other starters before the third quarter ended, as the deficit ballooned to an astounding 48 points at one point.
This sets the stage for a pivotal Game 5 on Monday evening in Boston, where the Celtics will enjoy the support of their home crowd and have another opportunity to clinch the title.
A significant storyline in this series has been the health of Celtics’ big man Kristaps Porzingis, who suffered a rare lower leg injury in Game 2 and missed both games in Dallas.
On Sunday, Coach Mazzulla provided an update, though it lacked specific details, on Porzingis’ potential return for Game 5.
“He’s trying. He’s doing everything he can to put himself in position to be out there,” Mazzulla stated, according to Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Notably, for Game 3, Porzingis was declared out beforehand, while for Game 4, he was listed as available and suited up but did not play in the blowout loss.
Friday’s game in Dallas was a disaster for the Celtics. None of the starters performed well, and the typically reliable Jrue Holiday committed five turnovers, giving Dallas a significant boost.