Detailing Kristaps Porzingis’ injury and IMPACT on Celtics margin for error 👀 | NBA Today

Detailing Kristaps Porzingis’ injury and IMPACT on Celtics margin for error 👀 | NBA Today

we start our show with breaking news the Celtics have announced that christs porzingis has suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg during the third quarter of game two according to the team his availability for upcoming games will be determined day to day here’s Joe moula just moments ago kind of a Rand random situation yeah and I felt something and and uh now I have to deal with it um so as as as we said it’s it’s going to be day today and uh and I’ll see how see how I am tomorrow and obviously I’m going to do everything I can to to be out there tomorrow and uh we’ll see are you optimistic I am of course I have to be I’m going to I’m optimistic and as I said I will do everything I can to be out there tomorrow he’s doing anything and everything he can uh to be ready for the game tomorrow um it’s a it’s it’s a much it’s a serious injury um and at the end of the day our team and and the medical team is not going to put him uh in any bad situations and so uh we’ve taken a decision to play out of his hands because of the importance of him and so he’s going to do everything he can to play and then we’re going to leave it up to our medical team um and that’s that’s really it we now welcome in ESPN NBA reporter Tim bontemps live from Dallas Tim what more can you tell us about this injury for Chris staps pingis first of all Chan I’m really impressed by you reading that off and that I didn’t have to cuz when I got the email announcing this injury just before Joe Missoula sat down it took me several reads to figure out what it was actually saying and it actually took me some research to figure out it was something going on in Chris as porzingis is left ankle and this whole situation is pretty fascinating because porzingis is walking around Chan without any sort of you know crutches or a boot on his foot he’s got a brace on his left ankle but he’s not really limping he’s moving around fine just like he was after game two and frankly CH the concern for Chris as porzingis after that game too was with his right leg which he appeared to tweak in the fourth quarter of that game and coming out of it he said he’ll die out on the court if he has to to be able to play he said he was optimistic about the fact to be out there but there was really no concern at all about this left leg and obviously this is a very significant concern now for the Celtics going forward in this series porzingis has been a huge boost off the bench for Boston in the first two games he has been an excellent addition for them off the bench with a three-point shooting and his rim protction it’s Capal Horford’s minutes down and certainly the Celtics would love to have him out there and now as you said Joe moula the first thing you said when I asked him about the injury is that this decision is not going to be in christas porzingis his hands this is going to be in the decision of the medical staff for the Celtics to determine on a day-to-day basis whether he’ll be able to go as you heard In that clip porzingis who always presents an optimistic tone Anyway said he has to be optimistic in this situation believes he’s going to do whatever whatever he can to get back out there in game three but certainly with Boston up to O A looking to take a firm control of the series with a 3oh lead with a win tomorrow night this certainly adds an entire new layer of complexity to what Boston’s trying to do as try to put this series away thanks Tim for this crucial update please stick around because this injury could potentially alter the series because how important is Chris staps porzingis versus the Mavs in the NBA Finals the Celtics have smoked the Mavs by 25 points in the 44 minutes porzingis has played in the finals but in the 52 minutes he’s been out it’s been pretty even you know porzingis did have planner fasciitis last summer it prevented him from playing uh for his national team of ltia so it is you know something that he’s probably been monitoring for a while I would also tell you it’s a type of at least when was a tendonitis it’s something that takes a while to deal with and if you listen to Joe Missoula there it’s very clear that they’re preparing for the reality he may not be able to play now what that would mean for the Celtics is simply more Al Horford Al Horford has been excellent in the starting lineup the positive here is it won’t affect the way they’ve starting this nine game win streak that they’ve had in the postseason is all with Horford as the starter but it will mean two things specifically one it means that Horford’s minutes are probably going to have to go up and the Celtics try to guard his minutes they you know the more minutes he plays generally maybe not every game but generally you start to see some effects because of his age and the second thing is you won’t have that weapon in porzingis to come off the bench one of the things that we’ve seen in these first two games is when porzingis comes off the bench especially in the first quarter it’s like a supercharge injection to their team the way he’s able to be that type of player Off the Bench he might be one of the best bench players in the history of the finals I’m not joking when I say that when you think of what he’s able to do so now if that is not there the Celtics have a very large margin for air in general I think that’s one of the blessings that we’ve learned about this this series just over two games and their margin for air is just taken potentially a very big hit they still have a lot of options and they still have a lot of weapons but not having porzingis whether it’s for one game or whatever is significant and if you’re Dallas it opens it opens a window of opportunity potentially you’re right Wendy because in game one he came off the bench and had 18 points in that first half now Andrea how much trouble is Boston in if por zingas can’t go you know it’s interesting CH I’ve just been going back and forth literally as I’ve been sitting here because on one hand how great is it for Boston to have put themselves in a situation to be up 20 like can you imagine the stress that they would be feeling had the series been even and now you’re going back to Dallas and Dallas has an opportunity to go up 31 but instead you’re up 20 you could try to still one in Boston or in Dallas without porzingis but even if you drop to in Boston you know you’re going home for potentially two more games so they put themselves in a phenomenal position to take this blow but let’s be very clear it is a huge blow how many times did christop porzingis show he is a matchup nightmare for Dallas whether their bigs are on him whether their guards are on him it doesn’t matter he was able to score on everyone score over everyone score around everyone and his defense whether it was getting back in transition you saw as soon as he was hobbled what happened a lob pass in transition his defense in transition his defense in the half court his length on both ends of the floor he caused problems for Dallas so not having him available if you’re on Boston side it’s a big blow but they’ve given themselves a little bit of a cushion by getting those two wins at home which is something we knew coming in they didn’t always protect home court right so their ability to protect home court puts them in a decent spot but it’s still going to be troubling to figure out how to finish without him that’s true and Tim who will they lean on now without potentially Chris STS pringus to truly step up in the series well Chan I think we’ll see some of Luke cornet’s typically been Boston’s backup center whenever porzingis or Al Horford hasn’t played but I want to go back to a point Brian made about Al Horford’s minutes and when Al Horford is in the 25 to 30 minute range he has been an excellent player for Boston in these playoffs when his minutes go up above 30 when they go up above 35 when they approach 40 his efficiency and his play starts to really Decline and a thing that’s been critical in the first couple games of this series for Boston is that Ben Horford has been able to switch out onto Kyrie Irving has been able to switch out onto Luca donic and has been able to do so without any really negative impact on the Celtics defensively if his energy level starts to dip if he’s not able to play with quite the same intensity level because he’s playing more minutes all of a sudden maybe Luca donic gets going a little more maybe Kyrie Irving finally gets going after a rough couple games and things start to look a little bit different for Boston in this series now Luke cornette has been a very effective piece for Boston he’s got the size to be able to lay back and potentially disrupt some of the pick and roll lob action that Dallas has not been able to get to in the first couple games of the series has been such a critical part of what Dallas has done in these playoffs but make no mistake Luke cornette is not Chris as porzingis and as you laid out in those stats before Celtics plus 25 of porzingis on the court even with them on the bench obviously the challenge for them as Andrea pointed out trying to get a 3-1 lead here in Dallas now if porzingis is unable to go it’s a far more difficult task if they don’t have their seven3 Sharpshooter out there on the court for them over the next couple of games and the truth is Luke cornette is a role player Andrea does Jason Tatum their star have to do more is there more pressure on him now based off of Chris STS foringas you would think so right Jan especially being on the road in Dallas what is something that we’ve been saying about Dallas’s Superstars when they’re in Boston your Superstars perform on the road they have to perform on the road so more eyes are going to be on Tatum and just think about in game one christops porzingis dropped 20 christops porzingis has been consistently efficient when they need a bucket while as Jason Tatum even though I think he’s been tremendous out there on the court aside from his efficiency that’s that’s been the thing he’s been inefficient and now without kristof’s Pingus on the floor to make up for some of that his efficiency is going to be a big key for potentially trying to snag at least one win on the road in Dallas your Superstars show up on the road Jason Tatum has been a leader he’s been a facilitator he’s been a key he’s been the engine you heard Drew holiday he gave Jason Tatum so much credit even for his own performance in game two but the efficiency now is going to be huge if you’re Jason Tatum on the road and this has me thinking Wendy are the Celtics actually designed are they actually built for times like this well I mean they do have a good seven man eight man rotation but they are a topheavy team that that is really a good thing for because their top six are awesome and porzingis missed two whole series and they pretty much blasted their way through it so that just was happening they were just playing without him a few like weeks ago so it’s not like they have to go back to the drawing board here they can rely on it but it does limit some of the options that they have and they are blessed and they’ have been designed to have a lot of options they are as prepared for an injury like this honestly as any team that I’ve seen in the finals in the last decade so I’m certainly not going to sit here and tell you that they can’t handle it and get two more victories he [Music]

Tim Bontemps, Brian Windhorst and Andraya Carter join Chiney Ogwumike on NBA Today to detail the breaking news of Kristaps Porziņģis suffering a torn medial retinaculum in his left lower leg. His status remains day-to-day.

0:00 Kristaps Porzingis’ injury
2:00 Tim Bontemps details the news
6:45 Who will the Celtics lean on?
8:45 All eyes on Jayson Tatum and his leadership?

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