Sick Days Behind Him, Kristaps Powers Celtics to Win in Brooklyn

For Kristaps Porzingis, the past few weeks have been less about basketball and more about survival.

“I haven’t been this sick, probably ever, in my life,” Porzingis said, fresh off Boston’s gritty 115-113 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. “A week just laying at home, trying to recover. After each workout, I was—boom, big crash. Really fatigued. Not normal.”

Bronchitis, mono scares, fatigue so severe he couldn’t get out of bed, Porzingis’ absence wasn’t just a nagging cough. “There were some ideas of what it could’ve been, some heavier stuff. I was just hoping it would not be that. Luckily, it wasn’t.”

On Friday night, it was Boston who was thankful. The Celtics were stretched thin on the second night of a road back-to-back. No Derrick White or Al Horford. After Jaylen Brown left in the second quarter with back spasms, things looked even more grim.

He wasn’t fully in shape. He admitted as much. But he played the role of closer anyway, pouring in 14 of his team-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, including a thunderous dunk with 4:53 remaining that brought down the house.

“I was not feeling in shape yet,” Porzingis said. “But in these kinds of moments, you’ve got to bite down and bring something from deep.”

That depth showed up when it mattered. KP finished with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting (a perfect 9-for-9 from inside the arc) and a team-high +13 in 32 minutes. He ended up playing the entire fourth quarter as Boston fought off a 43.5% 3-point shooting barrage from Brooklyn.

NBA-record setter Payton Pritchard put it simply: “It shows the skillset he has; he’s a unicorn. An unreal player. When we have him, we’re even more dangerous.”

The numbers back it up. From Thanksgiving through February 26th, when Porzingis last played, the Celtics ranked second in defensive rating and first in opponent field goal percentage at the rim.

Without him? 14th and 22nd. His absence has been loud and clear.

“It’s great to have him back,” Mazzulla said. “The start of that fourth quarter, I thought he put us in a really great position to win. He executed down the stretch on both ends.”

Porzingis knew questions were swirling about his absence, but it was the messages of support that stuck with him.

“I saw on social media, people want to know what’s going on, why I’m out for so long,” he said. “Obviously, it was frustrating for me. Illness (out), illness (out). ‘C’mon, this guy can’t play through some illness?’ But I just wanted to let people know I would never sit out for a cough. If I’m out with an illness, it has to be where I can’t really help the team. I got a lot of support back, that was really nice. I always appreciate the support from Celtics fans and the fans back home.”

His frustration culminated in a near-return last week against the Lakers, when Porzingis pushed for a comeback.

“I was trying to push for the Lakers game, obviously. I wanted to come back. I tried to push my body the day before, had a hard workout. but then the crash I had was like historic. The next day, I couldn’t even get out the bed to go for shoot around.”

On Friday night in Brooklyn though, he got up, checked in, and reminded everyone just how much Boston needs him. As he sat in his locker after the win, he flashed a quick grin and summed up the situation as well as he could.

“We got here in the end.”