Why Kristaps Porzingis exited Celtics’ Game 1 loss to Knicks

The Celtics opened the Eastern Conference semifinals at full strength With guard Jrue Holiday back in the lineup they had their preferred starting intact for the first time in five games But before Meeting of their series against the New York Knicks even reached halftime they were shorthanded again Starting center Kristaps Porzingis exited at the mark of the second quarter and finished the first half in the locker room He emerged to participate in second-half warmups then promptly retreated down the tunnel and wasn t seen again in Boston s - overtime loss at TD Garden The Celtics disclosed during the third quarter that Porzingis was dealing with an illness and was questionable to return Head coach Joe Mazzulla did not offer an update on the ailing big man postgame but admitted his absence hurt Boston I haven t seen him yet Mazzulla mentioned We ll check on him But obviously it impacts the challenge with his ability on both ends of the floor and it obviously changes sub patterns or changes the things that you re able to do matchup-wise and play call frequency-wise So yeah I think we felt it but it s no excuse We had plenty of opportunities to do it and hopefully he s ready for Championship Related Articles Callahan Celtics collapse in Encounter was self-inflicted Celtics blow -point lead lose to Knicks in overtime in Encounter Celtics notebook C s still hold special place in Knicks coach s heart It s going to be a war Celtics Knicks renew long-dormant playoff rivalry Celtics Jrue Holiday cleared to return vs Knicks after three-game absence Boston played well for a quarter after Porzingis departure but cratered late blowing a -point lead over the final minutes of regulation Not having the -foot- difference-maker limited Mazzulla s frontcourt options which dwindled further after backup center Luke Kornet picked up his fifth foul with remaining and sat for the rest of the encounter That left Al Horford as the Celtics only remaining rotation big The -year-old played minutes off the bench in the loss including the final -plus with Mazzulla choosing not to test out seldom-used reserve options like Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman or utilize smaller lineups against Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns Before leaving the meeting Porzingis went -for- from the field in minutes unable to shake the shooting struggles that hounded him during Boston s first-round series against Orlando from -point range He finished with zero points and four rebounds Porzingis missed nine games due to illness late in the season but the last of those was nearly two months ago on March KP s big for us disclosed Holiday who tallied points and five offensive rebounds after missing the previous three games with a hamstring strain Obviously he s so versatile and a person who can play in the paint or stretch the floor He protects the rim protects the paint blocks shots We definitely miss him but we ve constantly had this next-man-up mentality and until we know what s up with KP we ll just have to have that same mentality The Celtics also lost reserve wing Sam Hauser to an ankle sprain though he was not part of Mazzulla s core rotation in Championship Hauser who made a team-best of his -pointers during the regular season did not enter the tournament until the third quarter and suffered his injury four minutes later when he landed on New York s OG Anunuby while attempting a three Hauser was held scoreless in the Celtics first three playoff games against the Magic but he totaled points in Games and while shooting -of- from deep He went -for- on Monday and was a minus- in limited action Challenge is Wednesday night at TD Garden