Kristaps Porzingis explains why this rehab process was one of his ‘easiest’
Rehabbing from lower body injuries has become part of the process for Porzingis. This time, it went quite smoothly.
The feeling of returning after a lengthy absence due to a significant lower body injury is a familiar one for Kristaps Porzingis.
He missed all of the 2019 season with a torn ACL. He tore his meniscus during the 2020 playoffs. He missed two series entirely and parts of two others during the Celtics championship run last season.
He was obviously playing through pain when he suited up for Game 5 of the NBA Finals before having offseason ankle surgery.
Porzingis said this recovery process was one of the smoothest he has ever dealt with, and as a result, he was able to return to action a little bit sooner than anticipated.
“Honestly, I would say, it was one of the easiest rehabs for me,” Porzingis said. “The only thing was I had to stay off the ankle for four-to-six weeks, so it was tough. Just on one leg with the scooter, can’t get up the stairs.”
“It was a little bit difficult from that perspective but once that moment passed and I was able to walk, honestly it felt pretty natural,” he added. “When I was playing Game 5, that was when it didn’t feel natural. That’s when you could tell something was off. But once Dr. O’Malley fixed it, it felt super natural and it just needed time to heal and get stronger.”
During the NBC Sports Boston broadcast of Monday night’s game, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said he could tell Porzingis was ahead of schedule during the preseason last month.
The Celtics were reportedly expecting to get Porzingis back by December. The 7-foot-2 center made his debut a few days before Thanksgiving.
“I don’t think we realized it until we really got into camp and then you see him work,” Stevens said. “When we saw him in Abu Dhabi, the way he was moving and the way he felt, it was pretty obvious he was going to be at the front end of that timeline.”
Porzingis said he was itching to get back out there with his teammates after winning his first NBA championship last June.
“I started to feel pretty good almost a month ago,” Porzingis said. “I would say the whole rehab, I was ahead of it all the time. I was itching to do more, start more, sprints, contact one-on-one.”
“I was asking the medical staff to do more, but we were still smart and completed all the stages up to get to this point,” he continued. “I told them that if you guys give me the green light, I want to do it as soon as possible. That was it. I got here maybe a even a month early and it’s good to be back out there.”
He scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and made two blocks in 23 minutes during his season-debut in a blowout win over the Clippers.
“I thought he played well. We were able to get back to some of our defensive versatility,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “A little bit of rim protection, a little bit more physicality on the ball because he was back there. Offensively, he just helped our spacing. It was good to get him back.”
For the most part, Porzingis appeared to be moving well. He scored the Celtics’ first points on a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Half of his 12 shot attempts were from beyond the arc, but he also caught a pair of alley-oops.
Getting used to the conditioning it takes to play a full NBA game will be an adjustment, he said. His leaping ability wasn’t quite at the level he is used to being at, but overall it was a solid start to his season.
“Honestly, I felt better than I expected,” Porzingis said. “Obviously your first wind is pretty crazy, lungs burning, legs burning and everything, but after that it was decent and normal. Even on the couple lobs, JB threw me a lob, Payton threw me a lob. On both of them, I had a flat tire. I couldn’t get up at all but it was good to be back out there.”
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