Kristaps Porzingis leverages undersized Warriors lineup, scores 18 in Celtics win
Porzingis is averaging 20 points and shooting better than 50 percent from 3-point range in his last five games.
Even through a rocky stretch of Celtics basketball, Kristaps Porzingis looks to be settling into his role very well for Boston lately.
On Monday night, the center played a key role in a blowout win over the Golden State Warriors. Porzingis’s ability to stretch the floor opened many doors for his Celtics teammates, as well as for himself.
Porzingis set the tone early Monday night, drilling a pair of 3-pointers and totaling eight points in the first quarter. By finding a rhythm beyond the arc, he gave Golden State no choice but to respect his range and play even tighter against him outside.
Unfortunately for the injury depleted and undersized Warriors, that meant pulling a bigger body out of the paint, allowing Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to run rampant near the rim with even less reinforcement available to prevent that.
If Golden State did switch a smaller defender onto Porzingis, the 7-footer made them pay.
“I think he’s getting more comfortable, obviously we want to involve him as much as we can,” coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters postgame. “I think he’s getting comfortable having an understanding of how he’s being defended, getting into a rhythm playing consecutive games, and getting used to being with the guys.
“… I think he’s been really physical on both ends of the floor for us lately, and his continued growth is big for us.”
On top of spreading the defense for his teammates, Porzingis got plenty of his own looks as well. The Latvian checked out of Monday’s game with 18 points, second most on the Celtics. And he did so in just 22 minutes of action, which will likely benefit both him and Boston as the team heads into a stretch of three games in four days beginning Wednesday night.
Porzingis has been strong of late, averaging 20 points and eight rebounds in his last five games on better than 50 percent shooting from 3 during that span. When healthy, he’s provided another layer to Boston’s game that helped it get over the hump and win the NBA championship last season.
If Porzingis keeps trending in the right direction, and stays in the lineup consistently, he could help bring the Celtics offense out of its shooting slump.
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