Former Knicks Center Gets Game 5 Revenge

“That sparked all of us,” Celtics star Al Horford said of Kornet's performance, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “It’s one of those things that you think you’re playing hard, (but) I just think that his will was just special, so amazing. He looked unbelievable."

Bostonians often wouldn't be caught dead cheering for a New Yorker but they made an exception for Kornet's 26 minutes in Game 5: Kornet is playing his third full season in Boston after his NBA career began with 66 games on rebuilding Knicks teams prior to Tom Thibodeau and Leon Rose's respective arrivals.

The undrafted 2018 entrant out of Vanderbilt has found a home in Beantown after a slightly nomadic start to his career: after leaving the Knicks through a two-year deal with Chicago in 2019, Kornet became a mainstay on the transactional log. He had made a good part of his living through 10-day deals and G League stints but has stuck around in Boston after they called him up from their Maine affiliate in February 2022.

Since then, Kornet has been a reliable green depth star in two runs to the NBA Finals, including last year's five-game win over Dallas. Even though Kornet set career-bests in his busiest season to date amidst a Porzingis illness (career-best 18.6 minutes a game), few expected him to be a factor against his original employers. Kornet had played just over 17 minutes in the last two games, including 7:44 of the Knicks' Game 4 victory on Monday in Manhattan.

But, pressed into service thanks to further health complications for Porzingis, Kornet vindicated the Celtics' continued faith: the 29-year-old literally blocked his former team's path to an elusive Eastern Conference Finals berth with several emphatic rejections that drew higher volume with subsequent swat. At seven, Kornet became, ironically enough, the seventh player to reach that tally off the bench in an NBA playoff game and the first since Robert Williams had nine for the Celtics in 2021's opening round.

Kornet was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field on Wednesday and perhaps saved the best for last in delivering the final blow: seconds after rejecting Josh Hart's corner three on defense, Kornet slammed home a reverse alley-oop from the arms of Jaylen Brown, one that rendered TD Garden hysterical and put the Celtics up 25. Kornet was removed from the game shortly after amidst a round applause and a hug from Horford.

"Obviously our season was on the line, so I was trying to have a lot of energy and make plays," Kornet said of his outing, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. "I'm very grateful just to be able to have the opportunity to play and obviously to make a big impact. I feel like it's just really special to be a part of when you're doing it, you just kind of get lost in it."