Kristaps Porzingis speak about his injury, 'it will take a little bit of time'

While there's no official word on a timeline for Kristaps Porzings, there is a lot of hope and optimism that his calf strain won’t hold him out for the rest of the postseason. Speaking to reporters for the first time since injuring his right soleus muscle in Game 4 against Miami, Porzingis was upbeat, but realistic.

“It’s something; it's not nothing. So it will take a little bit of time, for sure,” he said. “But I’m doing everything I can to like speed it up because I want to be back out there as soon as possible. But, understanding like, the worst thing would be like probably to re-aggravate that. So being smart.”

Porzingis missed two weeks with a left calf strain suffered on November 24. He admitted they took their time with that recovery because it happened early in the season. And while this injury is worse than that one, Porzingis says he hopes the urgency of the playoffs can lead to quicker return. 

“We took it very slow, very cautious,” he said. “This time around, because of the part of the season we're in, it's going to be much more aggressive I would say but being smart … week-by-week and just seeing how I progress and hoping for quick recovery."

Porzingis says there's no specific target date for his return. And while he’s “expecting to recover at a historic rate,” how he responds to on-court activity will determine when he comes back. 

“At first it's just to control the inflammation and start to do some movements and stuff without stressing it too much,” he said. “Today I had like a pretty good day. Made some steps forward, started doing new stuff today again. Tomorrow I'll be off, do some recovery stuff and then Monday I think, again, I will make like a big jump. Every day is a pretty big jump each day, so I expect Monday to be pretty good and go from there.”

Porzingis is much more upbeat about the injury than he was at first. After rolling his ankle on a previous play, Porzingis said he may have been overcompensating for it with his left leg, leading to the pulled muscle. His initial reaction was fear that he had suffered something much more serious.

“Tough, tough, tough. I'm not gonna lie, it's tough,” he said. “First few moments was really tough. It gets you down for a second. It is what it is. … I have to get healthy as soon as possible and follow the plan and make sure I do everything and just getting in that mindset because I can't change what happened in the game. That's it. So just looking forward to making quick steps forward toward being back on the court.”

Porzingis hope to travel with the team to whichever city Games 3 and 4 are in (Orlando and Cleveland face off in Game 7 Sunday a 1 p.m.). An injured player traveling with the team is always a good sign. Porzingis was walking around the practice facility without any added wraps or apparatus, so as far as signs go, this was a positive day. And he’s still involved with the practices, so he’s still active and mentally involved.

“I'm around the practice all the time seeing what these guys do at the stations and stuff and I expect those guys to get more minutes now,” he said. “I think it's going to be good for me to be around to see if I can give those guys something that I see. We wanna keep going the way we're going, no matter who's in or out. I expect these guys to step up and play at a high level.”

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Karalis’ Analysis: It’s always good to see someone with a leg injury walking around normally. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was a normal post-practice Porzingis session.

The key here, as Porzingis said, is not to rush it. The Celtics should be able to handle Cleveland or Orlando without him. It won’t be as easy, but the Celtics' depth, plus the ability to increase the playoff workload, will get guys through. 

The other series going to seven helps, I think, because it gives Boston five full days of full control of the workload to make sure Al Horford is physically ready. There's no indication that he’s not, but having nearly a week of prep time will get him ready for the physical battle ahead. I prefer this to the three days before Game 1 and then three more days before Game 3 that would have been scheduled had Cleveland won last night. 

Either way, Horford will be rested. Porzingis can go through his rehab, and the Celtics should be able to get ready for New York or Indiana. Hell, they might not need Porzingis for that series either. I might float the test balloon of going without Porzingis for Game 1 of that series just to see how it goes. The longer he rests and recovers, the better it is for Boston. 

But first things, first. Boston has to win this next series. The Celtics should take the same cautious approach they did in the regular season. I think they’ll have the luxury of doing so. Porzingis looks like a guy who will be playing again soon enough, but things have broken Boston’s way so far. They're built to withstand this and the road ahead looks smooth. Play it smart.