Boston Celtics star Kristaps Porzingis does not have any bad blood against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks. He also isn’t set on getting some revenge against the Mavs in the NBA Finals.
Well, that did not look like the case on Thursday night in Game 1. Porzingis (20 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench) looked like a man on a mission as he returned from injury to face his former team. In the process, he helped the Celtics secure a massive 107-89 blowout victory to go up 1-0 in the series.
Dallas Mavericks News: Luka Doncic Reacts to Kristaps Porzingis’ Big Game

For his part, Mavs superstar Luka Doncic has already spoken out multiple times about his relationship with Porzingis. Doncic has been consistent in stating that he has no problem with his former teammate whatsoever.
This is exactly why Luka was able to speak honestly during his post-game interview as he praised Porzingis’ role in the Game 1 blowout:
“Yeah, he was great for them,” Doncic said, via Mavs beat writer Grant Afseth of SI. “He was knocking down shots. He was blocking shots. So he was really, really huge for them on both ends of the floor.”

At this point, you can’t help Mavs fans from thinking that this was the Porzingis they were hoping for during his time in Dallas. To a certain extent, Doncic must be feeling the same way as well.
That’s all obviously water under the bridge now, though. Beef or no beef, these two stars are now on opposing sides of the ball and they have very different objectives at hand.
At this point, it’s Porzingis and the Celtics who have the advantage. Doncic and Co. will need to be much, much better in Game 2 if they hope to stand any chance against Boston in this series.

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