Little rust on Porzingis’s game
Return from hamstring woes big help to Celtics
Kristaps Porzingis showed that his shooting touch was not affected by his fivegame absence, making five of his nine 3point attempts during the Celtics’ 119-94 win over Detroit Monday night.
The 7-foot-2-inch center, who had been sidelined with a right hamstring strain, scored 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in 21 minutes in his return.
“He played the minutes that he needed to play and it came out good,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Talked to him after the game. It didn’t look like he missed too much of a beat on either end of the floor, so it’s good to see that even with some of that time off he can kind of continue that rhythm.”
Porzingis joined fellow big man Luke Kornet in the starting lineup for the shorthanded Celtics. Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Sam Hauser sat out with injuries. It was just the fourth start of the year for Kornet.
The offensive spacing was a bit awkward at times with both big men on the floor, Porzingis said, but the Celtics were able to overcome that and cruise to their sixth straight win.
“It’s an adjustment, of course, a little bit,” Porzingis said. “It wasn’t the regular fives that I was out there with today, but we make it work. We read each other, we played off of each other. A lot of the stuff is just open and we play off each other knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
“But I’m not going to lie, me and Luke together, it was like we were running to the same spots all the time, doing the same thing, so the spacing was a little bit not perfect early on in the game but we figured it out.”
Kornet took only four shots, but he grabbed 10 rebounds, had three blocks, and used his size to free up teammates with screens.
The majority of Porzingis’s shot attempts came from beyond the arc as he generated open shots off of pick-and-pops. Porzingis took only five shots inside the paint, while Kornet manned the post and spent time in the short corner.
“That just shows KP’s versatility,” guard Derrick White said. “You can play him with smalls, you can play him with bigs, and you can just do a little bit of everything.
“And Luke is just a constant for us every game. Every time he’s out there, you know what to expect from Luke and he just does so many little things to help us win games. I think it was a little different having them both out there and it was a good lineup for us.”
While the spacing was less than ideal at times, the Celtics were able to get some quality looks with the double-big formation.
Kornet passed the ball to White out of a post-up while Porzingis and Jaylen Brown screened for each other at the top of the key, leading to Porzinigis’s first 3-point make.
Four minutes later, Kornet screened for White at the top of the key and rolled to the rim while both Detroit bigs helped on him. That left Porzingis wide open for his second three.
With 8:55 to go in the third quarter, Brown had Kornet waiting in the short corner as he drove but saw Taj Gibson slide over to help. So Brown kicked it out to Porzingis for another open three.
Defensively, Porzingis and Kornet were able to use their length to alter shots inside. Detroit’s big men (Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren, and James Wiseman) shot a combined 9 for 20 from the field. The Celtics were fortunate that Detroit didn’t make them pay for late closeouts on 3-point attempts. The Pistons shot 31 percent from deep.
With a comfortable 10-game lead over Wednesday night’s TD Garden visitors, the Bucks, in the Eastern Conference standings, the Celtics have room to work on different lineups as they prepare for the playoffs. Mazzulla said he’s in constant communication with his bench players as they stay engaged and ready to go.
“Sometimes it’s about when the next opportunity they’re going to get, what it’s going to look like,” Mazzulla said. “Could be working on something today that we could see five games from now. We’re just kind of constantly finding small ways to improve, to get them better, but also to stay sharp on the fundamentals.”
Trying out different combinations now can be an advantage instead of waiting to see how they look later on, Porzingis said.
“Depending on matchups in the playoffs, you never know,” Porzingis said. “There’s going to be different situations and it’s good that we have the flexibility and also these kind of moments where guys are sitting out and we can try out these different things. So it will definitely just add more to our tool box.”