The Boston Celtics may be without center Kristaps Porzingis when they face the visiting Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Wednesday night.
Top-seeded Boston took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with a 102-88 victory in Miami on Monday, but Porzingis exited that game late in the first half with a non-contact calf injury and did not return. He left the arena in a walking boot and was scheduled to be examined further Tuesday.
“Nothing changes,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said following Monday’s game. “Bringing the same mindset, intentionality, toughness, details to the next game regardless of who’s available. It doesn’t matter. There’s no difference between the regular season and the playoffs. And all year, we’ve had guys step in and play.”
Porzingis averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 57 regular season games this season. He averaged 14.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the first three playoff games against the Heat, and had seven points and three rebounds before leaving Game 4 with 2:27 left in the second quarter. Boston was 21-4 this season when Porzingis did not play.
“Worried, just concerned,” Boston’s Al Horford said. “Any time that any of your guys go back there, especially him the way that he was walking, definitely concerning for me.”
Miami, the No. 8 seed, will need a victory Wednesday to avoid elimination and send the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday.
“Our guys really want to get this thing back to Miami and have just a great game in front of our fans,” Miami coach Eric Spoelstra said after Monday’s loss. “Our team wants to play well in front of our fans, so that’s the motivation — to get back here.”
With Jimmy Butler (back) and Terry Rozier (neck) both out with injuries, Miami has had trouble keeping pace with Boston offensively for much of the series. The Heat scored 39 points in the first half of a 104-84 loss in Game 3 and had 36 points in the first half Monday.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 25 points, 17 rebounds and five assists in Game 4. Tyler Herro scored 19 points for Miami and Caleb Martin added 18.
“We’re going in the lion’s den,” Adebayo said. “Everyone knows what’s at stake.”
Miami rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Game 4 because of a hip injury.
“I just felt something, felt something give in the hip, and we’ll take it day by day as of now,” Jaquez said. “It was really just my hip, my right hip. I felt something give in the beginning in the third quarter going up for a rebound. I tried to get back in there, tried to give it everything I had.”
Jaquez averaged 11.9 points per game during the regular season, and 12.8 points per game in the four playoff games against the Celtics.
Boston’s Derrick White scored a career-high 38 points in Game 4. He was 15 of 26 from the field, and 8 of 15 on 3-point attempts. Jayson Tatum added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The winner of the Boston-Miami series will meet the Cleveland-Orlando winner in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“We’ll just wrap our minds around getting one game in Boston, and figuring it out from there,” Herro said.
–Field Level Media