While it was not ideal that Kristaps Porzingis injured his calf, his four-game absence allowed the Celtics to play and grow in different ways. Others stepped up into bigger opportunities as the C’s continued to win, something that could benefit them in the long run.
But there’s no question, the Celtics are at their best when Porzingis is on the floor.
Porzingis made his long-awaited return on Friday night. At times, he couldn’t miss a shot. In other moments, his mere presence allowed his Celtics teammates to flourish as they once again looked like a powerhouse at full strength. Porzingis scored 21 points and Derrick White had 30 points as he drilled six 3-pointers. Jaylen Brown was issued his first career ejection in the fourth quarter but it didn’t matter because the Celtics had more than enough to overcome it in a bounce-back, 133-123 victory at TD Garden.
Jayson Tatum added 23 points, Jrue Holiday had 16 points and Al Horford scored 14 from the bench as the Celtics improved to 11-1 this season when their starting five is fully healthy.
“You got to see a glimpse of the identity of what our team can look like on a nightly basis,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I keep saying this to the team, success is going to look different every single night.”
With Porzingis, they’ve shown that they’re nearly unbeatable.
The 7-foot-3 big man has been a perfect fit with his new team. He showed it with a dominant performance against this Knicks team in the season opener. On both ends, he has unlocked the Celtics in the ways they were looking for when they acquired him back in June.
But after a four-game, two-week absence from the lineup, surely there would be some rust in his return, right
Not at all. Porzingis scored the Celtics’ first eight points of the night, which included two 3-pointers. He made his first seven shots of the night. He didn’t look like he missed any time.
“He’s special,” White said. “A guy that size who can do the things he can do on both sides of the ball, it’s a great weapon to have. … He can do literally anything on the basketball court. Having him back out there was huge for us.”
Porzingis played just 29 minutes in his return and there were no setbacks with his calf.
“Calf felt good, clean,” Porzingis said. “No tightness, nothing. Perfect. …
“Happy to be back. Felt good to be back out there. Was itching to get back out there with my guys and happy about getting back and beating a good team like the Knicks.”
Porzingis scored 19 points in the first half and cooled down, scoring just two points after halftime. But his return accentuated the strength of this team. When he’s not cooking, the talent around him can pick up the slack. And his mere presence on the court allows his teammates to flourish. Like creating attention to help White get an open 3-pointer, or create space for White to break free in a pick-and-roll for an easy dunk. Or opening up the floor for Holiday to make an aggressive drive.
Porzingis’ arrival has also helped relieve the pressure and scoring burden off Tatum and Brown, and that was on display Friday night. Tatum went scoreless and took just one shot in the first quarter. Brown scored just five points in the first half. But both of them embraced their playmaking side, as they combined for nine assists on the night and seven in the first half.
The Celtics struggled to gain separation on the Knicks in the first half but Tatum led a surge of scoring and playmaking to end the half. The run included two assists to Horford – including a terrific cross-court skip pass that resulted in a Horford 3-pointer – as the Celtics took a nine-point halftime lead.
“There was a point where Jayson didn’t score in the first quarter and Jaylen had taken like three shots, and you couldn’t tell because they were doing other stuff,” Mazzulla said. “Those guys are defined by one thing, but in reality, that to me is success, because they allowed their teammates, and their teammates took the pressure off of them and they facilitated.
“That is what it’s going to take for us to be great, is the balance. There’s going to be nights where they’re going to have to be amazing, and there’s going to be nights where we got to play like we did tonight. The more we can be connected and trustworthy on that, it’s super important. … I thought that was great by both of them to be facilitators, and it shows because they empowered the rest of the guys. We’re all connected.”
The Celtics scored 74 points in the first half but struggled to string together stops to pull away against the Knicks. But at least for one night, they put away their third quarter issues to put themselves in position for a victory.
The C’s have been one of the worst teams in the league in the third quarter this season, and with a nine-point halftime lead, could have been in danger of relaxing too much. But the Celtics locked in defensively and used hot shooting to overwhelm the Knicks. They reeled off a 10-0 run capped by a Brown dunk and a 3-pointer that gave them a 20-point lead, their largest of the night. The Knicks made a late surge in the quarter with three consecutive triples but Horford responded to that flurry with a 3-pointer to give them a 35-30 edge in the period.
Boston led by 10 midway through the third before reeling off a 10-0 run, capped by Brown’s dunk and 3-pointer that gave them a lead as large as 20.
“I think the guys were aware of it,” Mazzulla said of the third quarter. “It is a little bit more of a heightened awareness.”
The Celtics led by 12 with 7:19 remaining in the fourth quarter when they had to overcome some adversity. Brown was whistled for a reach-in foul on Immanuel Quickley, which seemed to set him off. Brown seemed irritated with various calls throughout the night but said something after the foul that earned him his first technical foul. According to Mazzulla, Brown’s first technical came after he said, “‘Don’t call that weak-ass (expletive).’”
“I’ve been on the sidelines in the NBA for five years,” Mazzulla said. “I’ve seen players act and say things that are way more disrespectful than that.”
But after being substituted out of the game, Brown was assessed a second technical while he continued arguing from the bench. According to crew chief Mark Lindsay, Brown was ejected after a “wave off directed at the official which under the respect of the game guidelines is considered an overt gesture and an unsportsmanlike act.”
Brown was unsure why he was ejected when asked after the game. He was so frustrated the moment that he was ejected that he gestured to the official – who threw him out from the other side of the court – to seemingly come talk to him and then had to be restrained by teammates before he headed to the locker room.
“I wish I would have gotten my money’s worth,” Brown said. “I always thought my first career ejection would be something a little more exciting. Maybe a tussle with some, you know, guys get folded up, go to the ground. Not some over-emotional ref who had a bad day.”
But the C’s did not hold fold after Brown’s ejection. The Knicks cut the lead to seven with 5:57 remaining but did not get closer as Tatum and White led the way in closing the victory. Mazzulla praised the poise the C’s showed in that moment as they stayed composed to finish the job.
It was yet another display of the Celtics’ strength in talent as they did so without Brown. But even though he was ejected, the night once again showed how dominant they can be at full strength. Because of various injuries and absences, Friday marked just the 12th game the starting five played as a unit. They picked up where they left off and it seems they’re just getting started, a scary thought for the rest of the league.
“It’s just crazy talented guys out there, and anybody can score 10, 15, 20 points in the first quarter and get hot. Anybody can do that,” Porzingis said. “And each game is gonna be different. I think what’s cool again is we don’t care who it is. Nobody cares. It could be D. White, boom, we’re just gonna keep looking for him, or that person is gonna stay aggressive and we don’t care. We want to be aggressive when it’s there and that’s it, play for each other.”