Kristaps Porzingis continues to have a bad series against the New York Knicks. The Boston Celtics center only played 12 minutes in Game 5 last night, recording only one point, one rebound, and one block.
Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
During the postgame press conference, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla explained why Porzingis didn’t play much yesterday.
“He couldn’t breathe,” Mazzulla said about Porzingis via Brian Robb of Mass Live. “He was available if absolutely necessary. So that was just a decision between me and him. He was having difficulties breathing, but he wanted to be out there, and if we absolutely needed him, we would have been able to go to him and rely on him. But you’ve seen a lot of that this year.
“Changing the lineup at halftime is something that we’ve done a lot this year because it just adds a different dimension and can change some sub patterns throughout the game. So it’s a credit to the guys just buying into what gives us the best chance to win each and every night, and I know KP will be ready for us,” he added.
Boston Celtics won Game 5 via a balanced effort
The Boston Celtics needed all hands on deck since Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles in Game 4, and they dedicated Game 5 to their fallen star. Derrick White led all scorers with 34 points. Jaylen Brown flirted with a triple-double with 26 points, eight rebounds, and 12 assists. Payton Pritchard, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet added 17, 14, 12, and 10 points.
“The air kind of left the room after hearing the news,” Brown said via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “We didn’t want to go out like that. We didn’t want to make no excuses. We didn’t want to come out and give up or just turn the season into what everybody else probably would expect.”
“We just said to the guys, said to each other, ‘Let’s come out, keep an open mind,'” he continued. “Just come out, play basketball … and guard your a** off.”
