What we know about Kristaps Porzingis’s early exit from Celtics’ Game 1 loss to Knicks

BOSTON — The main headline regarding the Celtics’ stunning Game 1 loss to the Knicks is simple: the defending champions missed an NBA playoff-record 45 threes and blew a third-quarter 20-point lead. But, in the backdrop, is the indefinite loss of one of the team’s star players: Kristaps Porzingis, who left Monday’s playoff game midway through the second quarter with what the Celtics reported as a non-COVID illness.

While Porzingis wasn’t immediately ruled out for the rest of the night, he never returned and ended up being limited to just 14 minutes in the series opener.

Kristaps Porzingis leaves in the second quarter after early struggles

Of note, Porzingis struggled in the minutes that he did play — he missed all four of his shot attempts, including several clean looks around the rim. That challenging opening stint came on the heels of a playoff series against the Magic in which he averaged 12 points per game on just 35.2% shooting — 7.5 points below his season average and shooting 13% worse from the field.

The Latvian center was not on the injury report ahead of Game 1, but headed to the locker room in the second quarter with no obvious injury at the time. Concern from fans mounted when Porzingis didn’t reappear the rest of the quarter.

Toward the end of halftime, Porzingis walked onto to the TD Garden parquet for a few moments, but ultimately returned to the locker room before the third quarter began.

Though the Celtics officially listed Porzingis as “questionable to return with a non-COVID illness,” he was never seen on the sidelines the rest of the way, and cleared out of the locker room before most reporters came in postgame.

In addition to Porzingis, the Celtics lost Sam Hauser for the night after he sprained his ankle landing on OG Anunoby on a three-point shooting foul.

Al Horford, Luke Kornet filled the center minutes in Monday’s loss

Al Horford, who started four of five games in the first round, started the second half in Porzingis’s place.

And Jrue Holiday, who returned from a three-game absence, noted that Porzingis’s absence was impactful — but that the Celtics have relied on other players all year long.

“KP is big for us,” Holiday said. “He’s so versatile. He’s a person who can either play in the paint or stretch the floor, protects the rim, protects the paint, blocks shots, and we definitely miss him. But, we always have this next man up mentality. Until we know what’s up with KP, we’ll just have to have the same mentality.”

In Porzingis’s absence, the Celtics relied on both Horford and Luke Kornet. Horford provided 34 minutes off the bench, scoring 7 points and grabbing 7 rebounds, 3 of which were offensive. Kornet, meanwhile, played 17 minutes, shooting 2-4 from the field and grabbing 5 rebounds.

Kristaps Porzingis previously dealt with an unknown illness in March

Porzingis had yet to miss a game this postseason, appearing in all five games against the Magic. That came after he missed all but six games last postseason, straining his calf in the first round against Miami, before suffering a rare leg injury in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Mavericks.

This season, Porzingis appeared in just 42 games but was productive in his minutes, averaging 19.5 points per game on 48.3% shooting in 42 games. He dealt with an upper respiratory illness from late February to mid-March that kept him out of 11 games, after missing the earlier portion of the season recovering from offseason leg surgery.

It’s unclear if the illness he dealt with on Monday has any connection to the sickness he dealt with earlier this spring. The details around that illness were never fully disclosed, though Porzingis did turn to social media to update fans midway through his absence.

On March 10th, he tweeted: “I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven’t been able to fully identify yet. I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full strenght to help this team. Thanks for support and I’m hoping for a healthy return soon.”

Porzingis didn’t share an exact illness diagnosis upon his return, which came at a road game in Brooklyn, noting that the Celtics’ medical staff had trouble figuring out exactly what was keeping him out of action.

But, he stressed just how ill he felt for nearly three weeks.

“It was extremely, extremely frustrating not knowing what I had,” Porzingis said after his return on March 15th. “I haven’t been this sick, probably ever, in my life.”

“After each workout, I was — boom, big crash. Really fatigued. Not normal.”

Joe Mazzulla did not have much of a Kristaps Porzingis update postgame

The Celtic’s head coach said after the game that he had yet to see Porzingis, and added that he only found out about his illness amid Game 1.

For most of the night, it appeared that the team was going to survive Porzingis’s absence with no issue. The Celtics built a double-digit lead at the half, which they extended to 20 points in the third quarter. But the Knicks stormed back to improbably steal Game 1 in overtime.

After the game, Mazzulla acknowledged that the loss of their starting center had an undeniable impact: “Obviously, it changes sub-patterns. It changes the things that you’re able to do match-up-wise.”

“But it’s no excuse,” Mazzulla said, adding: “Hopefully, he’s ready for Game 2.”