13 hours ago 1

Kristaps Porziņġis 'hoping for a healthy return soon' while dealing with viral illness

After being ruled out for a sixth straight game on Monday, Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porziņġis announced on social media that he is suffering from a “viral illness.”

“I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven't been able to fully identify yet,” Porziņġis wrote. “I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full [strength] to help this team. Thanks for [your] support and [I’m] hoping for a healthy return soon.”

Porziņġis, 29, is averaging 18.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 blocks in 28.9 minutes per game, shooting 53% on 2-pointers and a career-high 40% from beyond the 3-point arc.

With Porziņġis again unavailable on Monday, the Celtics led the lowly Utah Jazz by as many as 24 points before squandering all of that advantage to find themselves in a tied game with just over three minutes to go. But thanks to a few timely plays — an offensive rebound, 3-pointer and strip by Jrue Holiday, a steal and driving dunk by Jaylen Brown, and a dagger transition 3 by Sam Hauser — the Celtics were able to hold off the underdog Jazz to come away with a 114-108 win and improve to 47-18 on the season.

Porziņġis last suited up in Boston’s blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons on February 26, scoring 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting with three steals, two rebounds and an assist. The Celtics were outscored by 24 points in Porziņġis’ 26 minutes — a performance he described as “terrible.” The Latvian big man had missed several previous games — against the Clippers on Jan. 22, the Knicks on Feb. 8, and the Raptors on Feb. 25 — due to illness, as well.

“I mean, he’s sick,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters before Boston’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers last week. “He’s coming into the facility every day, trying to get shots up, sweat it out. He’s just not feeling well, but he’s working to get back.”

The persistent illness continues what’s been a trying season for Porziņġis, who missed the opening month of the season recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in his left ankle — an injury he suffered during the 2024 NBA Finals. A Christmas Day injury to that same ankle cost Porziņġis a handful of games midseason; he’s yet to play in both ends of a back-to-back during the 2024-25 campaign, and has appeared in just 32 of the Celtics’ 65 games.

Boston has scarcely missed a beat without Porziņġis. The C’s have gone 27-6 in the 33 games he has missed and outscored opponents by 11.9 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions with the 7-foot-2 center off the floor, according to Cleaning the Glass, with replacements Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta ably providing quality minutes in the middle next to ace perimeter players Jayson Tatum, Brown, Holiday, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.

Come the postseason, though, the combination of five-out floor-spacing, rim protection and mismatch-mashing post play that a healthy Porziņġis provides is worth its weight in gold. Getting him healthy, back into the fold and ramped up for the postseason is a must for a Celtics team with its sights set on defending its NBA title.

“I know it’s difficult for him not to be out there playing with us and he’s doing everything he can to get back,” White told reporters on Monday. “He knows we always got his back and we know he’s doing everything he needs to do to get back and try to figure out what’s going on. When he comes back, it’ll be great to have him.”

Read Entire Article