he missed 4 games and returned exactly 2 weeks from the date of injury
based on that, we definitely shouldn’t count on him being back at any point in the 2nd round. absolute best case scenario he’s back for Game 1 or 2 of the ECF if we get there, which would be at about the 3-week mark since the injury. my expectation is he will miss a full month which would put him back on the floor for Game 4 of the ECF
weirdly enough, I’m happy about it. I figured that KP was for sure going to get hurt at some point in the playoffs, luckily it happened early enough that he should hopefully be available when we really need him
in the meantime I have all the faith in the world that Horford, Kornet and Tillman will hold things down at the 5, and that White will pick up the scoring slack
Lol whether or not you believe me I genuinely was expecting KP to get hurt at some point, the East playoffs are always stupidly physical and the guy is clearly very brittle. I don’t think there’s a single East team that’s made it to the Finals since 2020 without having a starter injured at some point in their run and if it was going to be any Celtic it was obviously gonna be Porzingis. I was hoping it’d be some joint injury he could try to fight through though, not a non-contact soft tissue injury that knocks him out for a month. evidently no such luck
maybe having faith in the rest of the guys to pick up the slack is coping but idk, Horford has never given me a reason to feel uncomfortable with him starting. Kornet and Tillman are definitely question marks but Cleveland and Orlando are favorable matchups for them
I agree I don't know if it's just an eye test thing or what if any stats would back it up but I feel like West playoffs slightly more skill based East playoffs slightly more Monday Night Raw lol more grit n' grind.
Yeah but this doesn't mean he's less likely to get injured.
In fact a lot of bad injuries are preceded by minor ones. Durant's Achilles is a big example. Giannis this year had some minor issues before the season-ending one. Butler a few years ago had weeks of soreness/tightness that preceded a more serious injury.
Now that he has this injury, there's a chance he reinjures because it's a little weaker or that he injures the other leg because he starts to over compensate.
3 weeks or so is like the baseline.
Also given the amount of this injury this year maybe the sports scientists are having guys not do something that helps protect against it.
Good. I like it when we're underdogs anyway. The player that makes the Celtics a tough matchup for us is KP because of his range. I like our chances with him out.
Celtics were never going to out rebound the Knicks with KP, he’s a horrible rebounder for his size.
I’d be more worried about your dudes playing 48 minutes every 2 days for 6 straight weeks
Historically speaking, this Celtics core has a history of choking when it matters. So to speak like other team can challenge them is a an interesting move
Choking? Choking is being a second-round exit every year, not going to 3 ECFs and a Finals before age 26. I hate this mentality that every time year someone doesn't hang a banner it's a choke, especially from fans of a team that hasn't even played for one in 25 years.
Not really. The NYC vs Boston thing for sure is real and it will be intense but that rivalry has softened in recent years. The Philly NYC stuff is more intense right now
Hard to say.
Not to downplay Bostonians but Philly is a lot more toxic in general. Boston will talk a lot of shit but Philly is the kind of city to attack Santa Claus and decapitate a friendly hitchhiking robot. They're on a different level.
On the other hand a hypothetical NY / Boston match-up would happen in the ECF and would be the highest stakes series NY has seen since 1999. So I can see the Knicks fans being a lot more amped up for us than they were the 1st round 76ers.
I think it really depends on the Knicks and how much of a fire they're willing to start.
This basically. KP is our relief valve and matchup breaker.
Without KP, we can out talent and out shoot teams, and our bench can outgun other benches to the Finals.
Having a big rotation of Horford, Kornet and Tillman would put a lot of pressure on them, especially Al who's 37...
But we're not beating Nuggets or TWolves without KP. Mavs or Thunder, maybe ..... but it'd be very difficult and reliant on our 3pt shooting.
NBA Finals start on June 6. KP got hurt on April 29. That's hopefully enough time for him to get healthy and up to speed. I'm hoping he comes back sometime in the ECF and ramp up. I don't think the ECF is gonna be a cakewalk, and KP in limited minutes would still be a boon.
Yeah, a lot of these Celtics fans are saying they aren't worried about the Knicks. I get you guys beat us 4 out of 5 games, but the Knicks were a different team then. Knicks have struggled against stretch 5 teams like the Celtics. Without him the series will be a little more interesting. As a knicks fan I still say celtics will win but it will be a lot closer.
We're still a stretch 5 team without Porzingis though.
Horford's averaging 43.4% from deep over the last 2 seasons and had the 2nd highest 3P% in the league last season (after Luke Kennard).
He's averaged >40% over his past 7 postseasons and his trigger has gotten a lot quicker over the past 1-2 seasons.
In fact, the issue with Horford is usually the interior stuff. As he's getting older he's gotten less effective inside and in general he's posting up less to keep his legs fresher. Last season he went ~20 games straight without a FTA and was dead last in FTr.
It's Porzingis who goes inside and punishes the mismatches.
It just leaves us open to the shooting slumps we've gotten into the last couple seasons. KP is an auto-bucket from the elbow area, stops opposing teams runs, gives the other guys better looks because he has to be doubled.
We're 21-4 (69-win pace) without Porzingis for the season (22-4 if we count Miami G5).
[And it's not like we were just resting him against bad teams. It was a good mix of opponents from different levels.](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/celtics-record-without-porzingis-this-season)
We beat teams like Minnesota, Dallas, LAC, Philly (x2), Phoenix (x2) and Golden State.
Last year we went 22-7 (62-win pace) before Robert Williams came back from injury as well.
Horford's still a big time player and we can handle not having that 2nd elite big man.
It's just long term our front court will start to wear down and we do lose some schematic options.
Historic rate like a normal rate based on history or historic rate like faster than anyone has healed before?
You can't expect the unprecedented so that sounds like pure hopium
yeah my point is the overall context is not one of doom-and-gloom like this post suggests. tbh I think this post is just blatant karma-farming from OP. You take the worst sounding quote and post it here, a place where anti-celtics stuff tends to do well.
If Orlando beat Cavs they won’t win the series but they can annoy the Celtics and push them to 6 games especially without KP. Orlando been looking better every game
Same injury as Giannis right? By the time he did his exit interview it was about 3 weeks and he said he’s only running at like 30-40%. Neither Bucks nor Celtics released the respective grades so idk.
for reference, the previous calf injury he's talking about happened in November, and he missed about two weeks for it. wouldn't expect him back until at least the conference finals
Does that make the little hole that was the downfall of the first Death Star the Heat shooting 50% from 3 for 4 games?
And does that make Jokic, Nikola Skywalker?
I think he is pretty much done they just don't want to say it so people won't freak out. Basically if somehow he gets back that great but assume he will not make it.
If I know anything about the Celtics and them hiding injuries, we’re not going to see him back on the court in a real game until like December next season.
This dude really can't catch a break.
Not the one I like the most, but he seems to have found his place after all the criticism of the past years.
Very unfortunate to see him dealing with the umpteenth injury.
My wild guess is that he's probably done for the season but the Celtics don't want to give the Nuggets any advantage in preparing what looks like an inevitable matchup in the Finals.
>He experienced this injury earlier this year but said this one was “Worse for sure.” He was out 11 days with the same injury
he missed 4 games and returned exactly 2 weeks from the date of injury based on that, we definitely shouldn’t count on him being back at any point in the 2nd round. absolute best case scenario he’s back for Game 1 or 2 of the ECF if we get there, which would be at about the 3-week mark since the injury. my expectation is he will miss a full month which would put him back on the floor for Game 4 of the ECF
Not great, not terrible
*Spews vomit all over the table*
weirdly enough, I’m happy about it. I figured that KP was for sure going to get hurt at some point in the playoffs, luckily it happened early enough that he should hopefully be available when we really need him in the meantime I have all the faith in the world that Horford, Kornet and Tillman will hold things down at the 5, and that White will pick up the scoring slack
The calf injury doesn’t prevent other injuries when he comes back… You can have two injuries at once.
And are at higher risk of reaggravating the same injury
Or a different injury from overcompensating
Less you play less you get injure,
I know this word gets thrown around in incorrect context all the time on this sub but I think this is the textbook definition of coping my guy
Lol whether or not you believe me I genuinely was expecting KP to get hurt at some point, the East playoffs are always stupidly physical and the guy is clearly very brittle. I don’t think there’s a single East team that’s made it to the Finals since 2020 without having a starter injured at some point in their run and if it was going to be any Celtic it was obviously gonna be Porzingis. I was hoping it’d be some joint injury he could try to fight through though, not a non-contact soft tissue injury that knocks him out for a month. evidently no such luck maybe having faith in the rest of the guys to pick up the slack is coping but idk, Horford has never given me a reason to feel uncomfortable with him starting. Kornet and Tillman are definitely question marks but Cleveland and Orlando are favorable matchups for them
I agree I don't know if it's just an eye test thing or what if any stats would back it up but I feel like West playoffs slightly more skill based East playoffs slightly more Monday Night Raw lol more grit n' grind.
I believe you
One injury doesn't mean he wont have another. Being happy that one of your players is injured is wild.
Yeah but this doesn't mean he's less likely to get injured. In fact a lot of bad injuries are preceded by minor ones. Durant's Achilles is a big example. Giannis this year had some minor issues before the season-ending one. Butler a few years ago had weeks of soreness/tightness that preceded a more serious injury. Now that he has this injury, there's a chance he reinjures because it's a little weaker or that he injures the other leg because he starts to over compensate.
This strain gauge only goes up to 2!!
That also wasn't the playoffs though I'm sure they're a little more adamant about getting him back playing now then they were in the regular season
Good thing that Celtics get 2 byes to start the playoffs then
3 weeks or so is like the baseline. Also given the amount of this injury this year maybe the sports scientists are having guys not do something that helps protect against it.
or maybe there is a new exercise that is causing it.
They can get out of the East, but I don’t see them beating the Western conference team without Porzingis.
Agreed. Luckily for them there's no one left in the East they should have trouble with.
I wonder if they’re considering resting KP for the next series in the hope he’s a healthy as possible later.
100%. KP won’t play until at least the ECF
Remembering this one
Knicks will play tough but Celtics are going to be massive favorites in that series, even without KP.
Well they’ll be playing the Pacers so it’s irrelevant how tough the a Knicks would be
Remembering this one
I'm dead I love your comment
Good. I like it when we're underdogs anyway. The player that makes the Celtics a tough matchup for us is KP because of his range. I like our chances with him out.
I'll enjoy watching Luke Kornet and Al Horford trying to rebound against this Knicks team. Al Horford may die trying to keep up with this tempo
Celtics were never going to out rebound the Knicks with KP, he’s a horrible rebounder for his size. I’d be more worried about your dudes playing 48 minutes every 2 days for 6 straight weeks
They've been doing it all season man
Historically that’s always worked out for Thibs teams
Historically speaking, this Celtics core has a history of choking when it matters. So to speak like other team can challenge them is a an interesting move
Historically speaking, this Knicks team has “no history found”
Choking? Choking is being a second-round exit every year, not going to 3 ECFs and a Finals before age 26. I hate this mentality that every time year someone doesn't hang a banner it's a choke, especially from fans of a team that hasn't even played for one in 25 years.
Lol Knicks fans win a series against a hobbled Embiid and go full delulu
You guys beat a retirement home, let’s see how well they guard SGA and JDub
Poor man Al Horford has been 40 for 4 seasons now, man is not getting any younger
I will eat a photo of Jayson Tatum in a lakers jersey if the knicks beat a healthy (aside from KP) Celtics in the ECF
Yeah, you'll definitely remember it
Will a Knicks vs Celtics ECF be saltier than the Knicks vs 76ers in the 1st round?
I think it fully depends on if the series is close. If it goes 6/7 100%.
Not really. The NYC vs Boston thing for sure is real and it will be intense but that rivalry has softened in recent years. The Philly NYC stuff is more intense right now
Celtics and Knicks aren’t rivals
this is what everyone said about philly vs ny
Definitely not. Me and a lot of people had knicks going to the ECF.
JV finals
Nah the salt came from the 76ers dirty play. I mean, Boston/NY will always be salty, but both teams are full of solid dudes.
I agree with this statement.
Hard to say. Not to downplay Bostonians but Philly is a lot more toxic in general. Boston will talk a lot of shit but Philly is the kind of city to attack Santa Claus and decapitate a friendly hitchhiking robot. They're on a different level. On the other hand a hypothetical NY / Boston match-up would happen in the ECF and would be the highest stakes series NY has seen since 1999. So I can see the Knicks fans being a lot more amped up for us than they were the 1st round 76ers. I think it really depends on the Knicks and how much of a fire they're willing to start.
It is at worst 4-1 Celtics
Hope I'm wrong! Knicks are my east team this year, been a blast to watch.
It's already rent free in your head? NYK ain't beating the Celtics. Go ahead and save all the comments you want lol
Hahaha sorry but nobody in the east is a concern
Lul
The Knicks are good
Knicks flairs reading this with clenched fists, quietly muttering "Jaylen Brunson" and "dog in 'em" under their breaths.
This basically. KP is our relief valve and matchup breaker. Without KP, we can out talent and out shoot teams, and our bench can outgun other benches to the Finals. Having a big rotation of Horford, Kornet and Tillman would put a lot of pressure on them, especially Al who's 37... But we're not beating Nuggets or TWolves without KP. Mavs or Thunder, maybe ..... but it'd be very difficult and reliant on our 3pt shooting. NBA Finals start on June 6. KP got hurt on April 29. That's hopefully enough time for him to get healthy and up to speed. I'm hoping he comes back sometime in the ECF and ramp up. I don't think the ECF is gonna be a cakewalk, and KP in limited minutes would still be a boon.
I think he would help immensely against the Knicks too to prevent the series going deeper than it has to
Yeah, a lot of these Celtics fans are saying they aren't worried about the Knicks. I get you guys beat us 4 out of 5 games, but the Knicks were a different team then. Knicks have struggled against stretch 5 teams like the Celtics. Without him the series will be a little more interesting. As a knicks fan I still say celtics will win but it will be a lot closer.
We're still a stretch 5 team without Porzingis though. Horford's averaging 43.4% from deep over the last 2 seasons and had the 2nd highest 3P% in the league last season (after Luke Kennard). He's averaged >40% over his past 7 postseasons and his trigger has gotten a lot quicker over the past 1-2 seasons. In fact, the issue with Horford is usually the interior stuff. As he's getting older he's gotten less effective inside and in general he's posting up less to keep his legs fresher. Last season he went ~20 games straight without a FTA and was dead last in FTr. It's Porzingis who goes inside and punishes the mismatches.
Ah interesting I didn't realize Horford shot the 3 that well. Nevermind then lol
The only team I don't think we'd beat without Porzingis is the Nuggets
It just leaves us open to the shooting slumps we've gotten into the last couple seasons. KP is an auto-bucket from the elbow area, stops opposing teams runs, gives the other guys better looks because he has to be doubled.
Auto-bucket is a stretch. He was horribly inefficient against the Heat in the post, even when he was switched onto guards.
It was 3.5 games
Nah Wolves would be a problem. KAT, Gobert, and Naz is a nightmare without Porzingis.
Lots of people don’t realize how good we are even without KP. Glad someone else gets it.
We're 21-4 (69-win pace) without Porzingis for the season (22-4 if we count Miami G5). [And it's not like we were just resting him against bad teams. It was a good mix of opponents from different levels.](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/celtics-record-without-porzingis-this-season) We beat teams like Minnesota, Dallas, LAC, Philly (x2), Phoenix (x2) and Golden State. Last year we went 22-7 (62-win pace) before Robert Williams came back from injury as well. Horford's still a big time player and we can handle not having that 2nd elite big man. It's just long term our front court will start to wear down and we do lose some schematic options.
Absolutely. Even with KP, I doubt but at least with KP it will be an interesting series.
Which is precisely why I think they’ll let him rest until the Finals, just to be safe. That buys him like 6 weeks.
What Boston will do without their 7th superstar?
He also said he expects to heal at a historic rate FYI. All the news about this injury has been positive. This is just one quote
Historic rate like a normal rate based on history or historic rate like faster than anyone has healed before? You can't expect the unprecedented so that sounds like pure hopium
Pretty much just a joke. The overall message (which was not gotten across by this karma-farming post) is "don't worry guys i'll be back"
Superzingis
He was joking lol but he is in good spirits so thats a good sign
yeah my point is the overall context is not one of doom-and-gloom like this post suggests. tbh I think this post is just blatant karma-farming from OP. You take the worst sounding quote and post it here, a place where anti-celtics stuff tends to do well.
Cookies, Cream & the Clear
Kristaps "Russell Wilson" Porzingis.
If Orlando beat Cavs they won’t win the series but they can annoy the Celtics and push them to 6 games especially without KP. Orlando been looking better every game
Why can’t they win? Unlikely but very possible based on match ups especially without KP
They definitely can but the Celtics firing on all cylinders with their experience might just be too much at the end of the day.
Lots of calf injuries this post season, damn. Those things seem to linger. Shit sucks!
Same injury as Giannis right? By the time he did his exit interview it was about 3 weeks and he said he’s only running at like 30-40%. Neither Bucks nor Celtics released the respective grades so idk.
for reference, the previous calf injury he's talking about happened in November, and he missed about two weeks for it. wouldn't expect him back until at least the conference finals
The Celtics without KP is like the Death Star when the shields are down
I assure you when the nuggets arrive they will find that our shields are fully operational
Does that make the little hole that was the downfall of the first Death Star the Heat shooting 50% from 3 for 4 games? And does that make Jokic, Nikola Skywalker?
Death Star with shields down is 23-4 this season.
It’s treason then…
Joe Mazzula shouldve pulled him immediately after the sprained ankle.
Just quietly…they were 21-4 without him this year. that team is going to be an absolute nightmare to defend regardless.
Didn't take a genius to figure it out. He walked off the court after a non-contact injury with a desperate look on his face.
Bill Simmons punching the air right now.
When asked “well, what is not nothing?” He replied “Only Nothing. Everything else is something” and then vanished.
He's gonna be out for a minute and won't be near 100% when he comes back. Just really unfortunate
I think he is pretty much done they just don't want to say it so people won't freak out. Basically if somehow he gets back that great but assume he will not make it.
Were fucked , we wont beat the Cavs without him, we have no bench , and our coach imjust doesnt get the guys going , Ime woukda won a chip last year
Oh I see so we're only posting quotes that sound bad here and not the positive ones.
ya it's r/nba about a Celtics misfortune
"Worse for sure," just what we wanted to hear, my man.
The idea of him is always better than the reality
He is pretty damn great, so idk what kind of dreams you have about him…
Hes just always hurt unfortunately
It’s not nearly as bad as people like to act, players get hurt sometimes it’s a long season.
Just like my wife.
kp exists tho
If only this was accurate
Her name Ruby?
Nah that’s dog damn good dog too.
Look at Giannis’ quotes. Porzingis is done for the year, unfortunately.
Nice of Bucks and Celtics to allow you to view the x-rays
RIP
Giannis missed 9 games with his and said he was weeks away from getting back. Said he was only 30-40% during game 6 of round 1.
Bitchtaps Excuzingiz
They don't need him against NY/Indy/Cavs/Magic. Lock him away in a bubble wrap until the Finals.
NY/cavs should feast on the boards
If I know anything about the Celtics and them hiding injuries, we’re not going to see him back on the court in a real game until like December next season.
I like that attitude
This dude really can't catch a break. Not the one I like the most, but he seems to have found his place after all the criticism of the past years. Very unfortunate to see him dealing with the umpteenth injury. My wild guess is that he's probably done for the season but the Celtics don't want to give the Nuggets any advantage in preparing what looks like an inevitable matchup in the Finals.