In the first quarter of the Boston Celtics' 144-119 win over the Sacramento Kings, bouncing back from Tuesday's stinging 132-126 defeat vs. the Golden State Warriors, Kristaps Porzingis got busted open by an inadvertent elbow to the face.
As unpleasant as that was, there was more of a scare in the third frame when Domantas Sabonis's foot unintentionally ended up underneath Porzingis,' after he came to help contest a shot by the seven-foot-three center.
Sabonis received a flagrant-1 for being in the former All-Star's landing space. The latter fell to the floor, quickly reaching for the left calf he strained in a Black Friday loss to the Orlando Magic, causing him to miss Boston's following four contests.
Fortunately for the visitors, Porzingis stayed in the game and continued torching the hosts from the mid-post, producing 14 of his 24 points in the third period.
He also had three of his six blocks that quarter. After logging 29 minutes in the Celtics' victory, the Latvian native provided an update on his left calf.
"It feels alright; pretty good roll," Porzingis told NBATV's Dennis Scott. "But (I) just kept playing through it. It was a physical game. (I) got elbowed in the face early in the game, too. It was a fun, physical game, and I love how we came out for the second half, that third quarter, that was, again, as our coach likes to say, 'Celtics basketball.'"
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