Porzingis injury updates (soleus strain)

[CelticsWhat35]

KP is absolutely needed vs the Mavs because he can draw out Lively and Gafford from under the rim where they are not good defenders at all.

Also allows the bench to be stronger with Al coming in.

Also with Dallas not having a 5 that shoots 3's it allows the Cs to plant KP in the paint at a true rim protector esp when Luka and Kyrie drive.

Am I the only one who thinks we can beat Dallas without porzingis? Might take 7 and there’s no guarantee but idk I’m not counting on much from porzingis

Let's beat Indiana first. We could be 1-2 if we didn't catch some breaks.

Agreed; they’re going to most likely be more than a week until the Finals so no sense hypothesizing about these things now.

[Who]

KP is absolutely needed vs the Mavs because he can draw out Lively and Gafford from under the rim where they are not good defenders at all.

Also allows the bench to be stronger with Al coming in.

Also with Dallas not having a 5 that shoots 3's it allows the Cs to plant KP in the paint at a true rim protector esp when Luka and Kyrie drive.

Am I the only one who thinks we can beat Dallas without porzingis? Might take 7 and there’s no guarantee but idk I’m not counting on much from porzingis

They got a shot at beating Dallas without Porzingis.

I am not sure what their odds are. Whether they would still deserve to be favourites. But they'd certainly have a decent run at Dallas even without Porzingis.

[Muzzy66]

KP is absolutely needed vs the Mavs because he can draw out Lively and Gafford from under the rim where they are not good defenders at all.

Also allows the bench to be stronger with Al coming in.

Also with Dallas not having a 5 that shoots 3's it allows the Cs to plant KP in the paint at a true rim protector esp when Luka and Kyrie drive.

Am I the only one who thinks we can beat Dallas without porzingis? Might take 7 and there’s no guarantee but idk I’m not counting on much from porzingis

No, I agree with you - I absolutely think we can beat Dallas without Porzingis. Not saying that I necessarily thing we WILL beat them, but I think we certainly are capable of it. 

Frankly speaking, the only teams I was ever worried about facing were the Nuggets (as they seem to always have out number in the regular season), the Timberwolves (as I feel we match up with them really badly) and to a lesser degree the Thunder. 

I honestly don't think that Dallas are that great a team.  I don't feel they are "NBA Champion" calibre.  They barely snuck in to the #5 seed after hovering around the #7 / #8 seed for most of the season.  They struggled to beat the Clippers who had no Kawhi for 4 of their 6 games.  I do respect that they walked through OKC and Minnesota the way they have, but Anthony Edwards and KAT have struggled in the series so far, and the Mavs aren't exactly an elite defensive team - I think this has been just as much a result of the Thunder/Wolves' inexperience as it is about Dallas being good.

And while the Celtics do have a tendancy to collapse at times mentally, Dallas have been doing the same all season long - and Kyrie has been no stranger to choking in big moments (he disappeared for much of Boston's sweep of Brooklyn a couple of years back).

I'm not suggesting that Dallas aren't a good team, because they are.  But the Celtics are pretty darn good too - they did win 64 games (and are 0.800 in games played without Porzingis), they did have one of the best win differentials in NBA history, and they do have the highest win differential (and an 11-2 record so far) in playoffs.

* The Celtics were 2-0 against Dallas this year with an average win margin of +18.5 points.
* Tatum and Brown were dominant across those two games with Tatum averaging 35.5 PPG and JB averaging 29.5 PPG, both on >50% shooting
* Kyrie struggled against the Celtics perimeter D and only averaged 21 PPG on 42% shooting over the two games
* Porzingis did not play in the second game (which was a 9 point win for Boston)

So based on all of that, I really don't see any reason to believe that the Celtics cannot beat the Mavs in a 7-game series, with our without KP.  I definitely think we have a better shot if Porzingis is playing, but even without him this team has the talent to stick with Dallas and that series can go either way.   

For people to say Boston NEED Porzingis and can't win the series without him I think is being disrespectful to the Celtics and all they have accomplished this season.   

[keevsnick]

Celtics ending up going 9-1 in the 10 games KP missed.

Granted competition not amazing, but without your starting center that's still amazing.

[Phantom255x]

REST UP BIG GUY, SEE YOU ON JUNE 6!

[trickybilly]

Let's go Minnesota!!!!!!!

[cman88]

Woj said before the game that the plan is to get KP playing 5-5 next week and for him to be ready for game 1 of the finals. He said game 4 was the earliest he would be back.

[Goldstar88]

Woj said before the game that the plan is to get KP playing 5-5 next week and for him to be ready for game 1 of the finals. He said game 4 was the earliest he would be back.

Yep. Just saw that. Hope he’s right this time.

Cameron Tabatabaie: Woj says Boston is choosing to take a conservative approach with Porzingis, and that they expect to ramp him up in time for Game 1 of the Finals – via Twitter CTabatabaie

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Woj said before the game that the plan is to get KP playing 5-5 next week and for him to be ready for game 1 of the finals. He said game 4 was the earliest he would be back.

Yep. Just saw that. Hope he’s right this time.

Cameron Tabatabaie: Woj says Boston is choosing to take a conservative approach with Porzingis, and that they expect to ramp him up in time for Game 1 of the Finals – via Twitter CTabatabaie

TOLD YOU

[Phantom255x]

Woj said before the game that the plan is to get KP playing 5-5 next week and for him to be ready for game 1 of the finals. He said game 4 was the earliest he would be back.

Yep. Just saw that. Hope he’s right this time.

Cameron Tabatabaie: Woj says Boston is choosing to take a conservative approach with Porzingis, and that they expect to ramp him up in time for Game 1 of the Finals – via Twitter CTabatabaie

Even if Porzingis can give us 18-25 minutes a game in the Finals that’ll be massive. He’s a huge matchup advantage against Dallas. Gafford/Lively/Kleber are good but KP is better than all of them and Horford is no slouch either

[BitterJim]

Woj said before the game that the plan is to get KP playing 5-5 next week and for him to be ready for game 1 of the finals. He said game 4 was the earliest he would be back.

Yep. Just saw that. Hope he’s right this time.

Cameron Tabatabaie: Woj says Boston is choosing to take a conservative approach with Porzingis, and that they expect to ramp him up in time for Game 1 of the Finals – via Twitter CTabatabaie

Even if Porzingis can give us 18-25 minutes a game in the Finals that’ll be massive. He’s a huge matchup advantage against Dallas. Gafford/Lively/Kleber are good but KP is better than all of them and Horford is no slouch either

If he can play 20 minutes, that means you can cut down Al to under 30 minutes without needing to have Kornet/Brissett/Tillman as the line big. That would be huge for us

[SHAQATTACK]

These extra days for his leg to heal means the world . You always need to build confidence the machinery will take the load.

Maybe Kornet can heal back up too.