As Celtics hint at a return to form, the Kristaps Porzingis they need just so happens to be back
“We were a lion last season, and some games this year we’ve looked like a house cat.”
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We have more than enough fresh memories of their erratic shooting, lethargic effort, and bizarre late-game plot twists to confirm how frustrating the Celtics have often been during this 12-10 stretch since early December.
Here’s one more confirmation of that frustration, this one of the anecdotal variety.
When that excellent if ubiquitous commercial for a certain insurance company pops up on the screen during breaks in NBC Sports Boston’s game broadcasts, and Drew Carter’s voiceover begins, I’ve found myself doing cynical rewrites of the familiar script.
“We only get 48 minutes together,” intones Carter …
“…. and Jaylen and Jayson plan to dribble aimlessly outside the 3-point line for 20 of those minutes,” I mutter, impressing none of my living-room companions — usually my wife and a cat or two, all of whom obviously lack the proper appreciation for spectacular ad-libbing.
Fine, maybe I should keep working on my material. But I’d prefer not to, and just as soon abandon the act altogether.
It’s not all that fun being cynical about a team that hoisted an 18th championship banner into the Garden rafters just a few short months ago. It’s not fun being frustrated with players who were so tough, resilient, and clutch when they fulfilled everything back in June.
I’d much, much rather that they broke free of this malaise, this championship hangover, this somewhat understandable trend of not being as amped up for this game or that one as their given nightly opponent, inevitably eager to throw a haymaker at the champ.
I do believe they remain a genuine, if bored, championship contender, and that they will snap out of this funk. They may already be in the process, after their 122-100 walloping of the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
But even if these inconsistencies continue, it’s worth reiterating that there has been an extremely important positive development amid the frustrations:
Kristaps Porzingis’s powers have been fully restored.
The crucialness of Porzingis’s health to the Celtics’ chances of genuinely contending for and perhaps repeating as champion cannot be overstated.
Last season, he turned a power into a superpower, helping the Celtics level up from a team that could win a title but hadn’t yet to the one that made the confetti fall.
Porzingis gets referred to as a cheat code over and over again, because that’s exactly what he is. He’s a 7-foot-3, long-range bombing, rim-protecting force who also happens to be remarkably efficient in the paint. There are very few players like him — not just in the current NBA, but in its history.
Recovery from a complicated foot injury suffered during the run to the title last summer caused him to miss the first 17 games of the season, and I’ll admit it if you will: I thought there was a possibility, and not the slimmest one, that his second season here might end up reminding us of Bill Walton’s injury-abbreviated sequel to his delightful ‘86, when he played just 10 games.
After all, that wouldn’t be the first thing Porzingis had in common with Walton. His genuine appreciation for being a Celtic — which often manifests with authentic interactions with the Garden crowd, including during Monday’s loss to the Houston Rockets after a collision with the Draymond-level annoying Dillon Brooks — is so reminiscent of the pure joy Walton found in wearing the green and white.
He’s consistently the team’s best interview, whether that’s with NBC Sports Boston reporter Abby Chin or during the media scrums after the game. He’s almost casually candid when it comes to the state of the team. Never too high or low, always thoughtful, and often funny, sometimes not even on purpose.
I thought his assessment of the team’s — let’s call it an annoying-if-understandable malaise — after their 15-point win over the Mavericks on Saturday was as accurate is it was colorful.
“We were a lion last season, and some games this year we’ve looked like a house cat,” he said. “We want to have that spirit as a team this year, and it’s tough. Obviously, we can’t trick ourselves and make it [like] it’s playoffs every game. It’s tough, just human nature. But we know the group that we have and we know that we’re going to bring it to the big games, but we need to bring it consistently and keep building on top of good wins.”
Porzingis offered up another memorable line after his stellar, oh-he-is-back performance against the Bulls, during which he scored 34 points — 26 in the first half, including 13 in the first 3-plus minutes — and tied a career-high with eight 3-pointers, none of which were closer than 27 feet from the basket.
“Some games, [the defense] completely [takes] away, for example, my three,” he said. “And then every basket I have to earn with meat.”
Porzingis paused.
“Maybe that sounded crazy,” he said with a chuckle.
He later explained on social media that not all Latvian expressions translate perfectly to English, but hey, we got the gist. Maybe next time he’ll say “muscle,” or some hoop-jargon staple like “physicality,” but meat makes sense to us now. Might as well stick with it, KP. Maybe even put it on a T-shirt.
Porzingis’s full return to form — he’s shooting 58 percent from the field and 57.8 from 3 over his past seven games — could be a clue that the Celtics as a whole are about to find their form and go on an overdue, prolonged winning streak. The advanced metrics such as offensive and defensive rating for their starting five have surged in recent games, into the range of where they were in their championship season. And the Celtics this season are 14-1 after a loss, a suggestion that they know what to do and do it when they are properly focused.
To contend for the championship again, let alone to repeat, the Celtics are going to have to find that focus and harness their worst inclinations — too much iso ball on offense, too frequent breakdowns born of inattentiveness on defense — far more often than they have the past six weeks.
For all of these recent frustrations, I trust that they will do it. This post-championship malaise is not uncommon, as Steve Kerr recently noted, and he’s seen a few banners raised in his day. Porzingis is back, and he’s right, and that’s a blessing. The biggest and most important blessing, amid the inconsistency.
Yes, we need to see sustained progress and consistency. We need to see that starting five continue to cook in unison.
But soon enough, meat, we might just be back to enjoying all 48 of those minutes we get together, again.
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