Porzingis’s health always top priority
ATLANTA — The celtics ensured center kristaps Porzingis was healthy for most of the season, giving him extra rest for minor or moderate injuries and not overworking him as the playoffs approach.
Porzingis played 65 games last season with the Wizards and could have played more if not for an illness near the end of the season. He played his 51st game Thursday, scoring 20 points as the Hawks beat the celtics, 123-122 in OT. The celtics will give him more rest as the regular season comes to a close.
Porzingis understood the team would be cautious with his health, knowing how important he is to its postseason success. Porzingis has never been through a long postseason run. He has played in 10 playoff games in his career and never advanced past the first round.
“I think the team has done everything they felt like they needed to do to protect me, to make sure we get to the postseason as healthy as possible,” he said Thursday. “Not just for me but for everybody. for me, maybe it looks a little bit different, a little bit more caution with each situation, with each little ankle roll and I understand that part.
“for me, of course, I was able to and wanted to play through more stuff. But there will be a time and place to do that and that will be in the postseason. So just to get to the playoffs is the most important thing, get to the playoffs healthy and I think the medical staff has done a great job of keeping us healthy.”
The celtics welcomed back
Jrue Holiday after a five-game absence with a right shoulder injury. Holiday participated in shootaround monday and practiced Wednesday, getting the clearance to play. He had 13 points against the Hawks. It is the first time since march 7 the celtics started their preferred lineup.
“It’s important just to continue to build the habits regardless of who’s playing on both ends of the floor,” said coach Joe Mazzulla. “We were able to get that lineup out there in practice for a little while and an opportunity to do that here and maybe going forward, but the habits going forward are the most important in general.”
Although they have clinched the Eastern conference, the celtics are still playing for home-court advantage through the NBA finals.
Entering Thursday, their magic number to clinch the NBA’s best record is 4 over the second-place Denver Nuggets. The celtics are 6½ games ahead of the Nuggets with 10 games to play.
Comeback explained
The Hawks were trailing, 6838, and all hope appeared gone after Al Horford drained yet another 3-pointer. That shot would be the end of the celtics’ scoring barrage. Atlanta responded with a 37-10 run that would lead to its rally and victory monday.
Atlanta coach Quin snyder implored his team to become more physical and they changed their game plan mid game, catching the celtics completely off guard.
“There’s times where you feel you can move the needle on those things,” Snyder said of his emotional approach.
“We felt like they were the more aggressive team and that was something that challenged our guys to pick their level up in that regard. Sometimes when you do that you get a little lucky. They missed shots. That certainly helped us. But they made shots early and we fouled. So there was some things I felt like that we were playing better early than it felt with the scoreboard.
“The reality is, what we were doing wasn’t good enough. Halftime was a time to show them some clips where they really feel that.”
The Hawks began the second half with an easy layup by De’Andre Hunter, sparking an 19-4 run that brought Atlanta to within 3 points. The game went back and forth until the final seconds.
“It was pretty simple,” Snyder said. “We just needed to get more aggressive, making the game harder and execute better. I thought we said they were the more aggressive team and regardless of whether we won or lost the game, that wasn’t something we were going to feel good about after the game. I was pretty direct with all that.
“There are times to be emotional. guys need that and frankly guys want that. Our guys are like that, so challenging them a little bit, at those times when you know they have more in them, I believe that and they did.”
White back in lineup
Derrick White, who sat out monday with a sprained right hand, was also back in the lineup and finished with 22 points. Horford, who played monday, was declared out with a left big toe sprain while Jaden springer, who played eight meaningful minutes monday and then played the next night for gLeague maine, was out with left knee tendinopathy. center Xavier tillman, who missed monday with knee soreness, had 2 points in nine minutes Thursday.