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By Stephen Hawkins, AP Sports Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis Rare tendon injury in left calf Encountered in the previous game.
The Celtics announced Porzingis would miss their game against the Dallas Mavericks about two hours before tipoff, but head coach Joe Mazzulla later said the center could play in Game 4.
“The medical team and the staff felt that it wasn’t the best option for him,” Mazzulla said of Game 3. “It’s just something he takes day by day and see how he is tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. … He didn’t look right. That’s it. I had no part in it. It was not something he could control.”
Porzingis, 28, missed 10 straight playoff games with a right calf strain before returning to play in the NBA Finals last week and helping the Celtics to a 2-0 lead over his former team. He got the Celtics off to a winning start with 11 points and two blocks in the first quarter. Their first match victorythen get 12 points The game in which he was injured.
Porzingis said he felt some discomfort but continued to play after colliding knees with Dallas center Derek Lively II on Sunday night. He left the game in the final minute of the third quarter and played only about 3 1/2 minutes in the fourth.
The 7-foot-2 Latvian suffered a tear in the tendon support tissue. The Celtics said it was unrelated to the calf strain he suffered in Game 4 of the first round against the Miami Heat on April 29.
Al Horford, who turned 38 last week, played center against the Mavericks, just as he had against the Heat since Game 5. He scored the Celtics’ first five points, including a short jumper and a 3-pointer.
After the team announced the injury on Tuesday, Porzingis said he was receiving ongoing treatment and following the instructions of the medical staff. He said he would do everything he could to play, but acknowledged he “couldn’t trick them into letting me play.”
Mazzula said at the time that the team no longer let Porzingis make decisions.
“I admire his attitude. This whole playoffs … he never missed a game, he was always out there, playing with everything he had,” Mazzulla said before Game 3. “Sometimes it’s unfortunate. There’s nothing he can do.”
With Porzingis missing Game 3, he has not played a game in Dallas since being traded by the Mavericks nearly two and a half years ago.
Porzingis, the fourth overall draft pick of the New York Knicks in 2015, was an All-Star before missing all of the 2018-19 season with a torn ACL. They traded him to Dallas in January 2019the deal involves seven players and two first-round draft picks. Dallas trades Porzingis to Washington On February 10, 2022, the Wizards sent him to Boston in a three-team trade last summer.
Porzingis did not play when the Wizards played in Dallas in January 2023 after appearing in 12 of the previous 13 games. He also did not play for the Celtics in January of this year, when Porzingis had 32 points, six rebounds and five blocks in Houston when the Celtics visited the American Airlines Center that night.
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