Kristaps Porzingis made his first NBA Finals game a night to remember Thursday, following a 38-day layoff that saw him miss much of the Boston Celtics’ run to the title showdown with Dallas.
The Latvian forward came off the bench in his first game since injuring his right calf in the first round in April and tortured his former team on both ends of the floor.
“Obviously it wasn’t ideal that I was out for such a long time,” Porzingis said after contributing 20 points in the Celtics’ comprehensive 107-89 victory over Dallas in game one in Boston.
“But I did everything I could to prepare mentally for this moment coming back and it paid off, and we got the job done tonight and had a good game.”
Porzingis said an “unreal” ovation from the TD Garden crowd helped him get off to his quick start.
“The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and that definitely helped,” he said.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game he wanted to see “defense, offense, communication, playing hard” from Porzingis — and he got all of that as Porzingis added six rebounds and three blocked shots in his 20-plus minutes on the floor.
Asked this week if he was 100 percent recovered from the injury, Porzingis seemed a little hesitant.
But after testing himself on the league’s biggest stage, there were no doubts remaining.
“Tonight was an affirmation to myself that I’m pretty good (physically),” he said. “Maybe I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty good and I can play like this and I can definitely add to this team.”
“It’s just basketball,” he added. “Even if I have time off, I can jump right back in and I feel the same way.”
The Celtics beat Cleveland in five games in the second round and swept the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals without Porzingis.
But Jaylen Brown, who led Boston’s scoring with 22 points, said his teammate’s return gave the team more options.
“Kristaps has been great for us all season long,” Brown said, adding that the Latvian was a “big reason” Boston led the league with 64 regular-season wins.
“Having him back and him playing well and to that level he was during the season is so important for us because you got another defender, another shooter out there that you have to respect. So that just opens it up for everybody else,” Brown said.
But he sounded a note of caution as the Celtics looked toward game two on Sunday.
“Nobody’s more proud and more excited for him than I am,” Brown said. “But we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to almost forget about it and get ready for the next one.
“We can’t be celebrating ourselves. Dallas is probably getting ready for the next game right now.”
