BOSTON — Kristaps Porzingis returned to action Thursday night, and he did so without any limit on his playing time.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said Porzingis would have no minutes restriction in Game 1 of the NBA Finals after missing the previous 10 games with a calf strain.
The Celtics removed Porzingis from their injury report on Wednesday, clearing him to play for the first time since April 29. He did not start the game, however, with Mazzulla choosing to keep Al Horford in the starting five.
Asked what he hoped to see from the 7-foot-2 center in his return to the floor, Mazzulla replied: “The same things he’s done for us all year.”
“Defense, offense, communication, playing hard,” Mazzulla said in his pregame news conference at TD Garden. “Just what he’s done for us over the course of the season that’s helped us get here.”
Porzingis suffered the injury in Game 4 of Boston’s opening-round playoff series against Miami. He did not play in the Eastern Conference semifinals against Cleveland or the East finals against Indiana.
The Celtics went 9-1 in Porzingis’ absence. They were similarly successful without him during the regular season, going 21-4 in games he missed. But Porzingis’ rare ability to both protect the rim on defense and stretch the floor as a 3-point shooting threat makes him a potential X-factor against Dallas.
Porzingis confirmed earlier in the week that he would play in Game 1 but played coy when asked whether he’s 100% healthy.
“Good question,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Porzingis finished with 20 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes.
Ageless Al Horford
Veteran center Al Horford, who started every game while Porzingis was sidelined, is looking to become just the fourth NBA player ever to win his first championship in his 17th season or later.
Another member of that club is trying to prevent Horford from joining.
Dallas head coach Jason Kidd won his first title in Year 17, when his Mavs took down LeBron James and the Big Three Heat in the 2011 Finals. Though he hopes Horford’s championship drought continues, Kidd marveled at his longevity.
“I think when you talk about Al’s journey, it’s been incredible,” Kidd said pregame. “It just seems like he’s getting younger. He’s been on great teams. He’s always been a great teammate from afar, from what I’ve heard. Just understanding his skill set, being able to guard everyone on the floor as a teammate, being able to also stretch the floor, being able to shoot the three, longevity.
“He’s doing something right when you talk about eating and taking care of your body and also mentally, because it can become draining. It can become where maybe I want to get on with my life and do something different. But his goal is to try to win a championship. Our goal is to try to delay that. But he’s going to be one that’s going to have an impact in this series.”
Horford, who turned 38 on Monday, entered the Finals averaging 9.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 30.4 minutes per game this postseason. He scored 10 points and hauled in seven rebounds on Thursday.
Van Gundy moving up?
The Celtics will have at least one hole to fill on Mazzulla’s coaching staff next season. Could they do it by promoting a former NBA head coach?
Jeff Van Gundy, the longtime bench boss for the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, joined Boston last October as a senior consultant. According to a report last week, the Celtics are considering shifting Van Gundy into a bench role for 2024.
Mazzulla addressed that report Thursday during a radio appearance.
“We don’t really know yet,” Mazzulla said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand.” “We always said we are going to hire from within and kind of talk more about that after the season.”
Top Celtics assistant Charles Lee will leave after the Finals to take over as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, and Sam Cassell also has been rumored as a possible head-coaching candidate.
As Mazzulla noted, the Eastern Conference-winning head coach has said he’d prefer any replacements to come from within the Celtics organization. Van Gundy, who spent 15 years as an ESPN analyst before being laid off last summer, meets that criteria.
Off the rim
The Celtics honored the late Bill Walton by wearing tie-dyed “WALTON” shirts during pregame warmups. The team also aired a video tribute to the iconically eccentric Basketball Hall of Famer, who was part of Boston’s 1986 championship squad, and Walton’s family was in attendance. Walton died of cancer last week at age 71. … Unsurprisingly, dozens of celebrities turned out to watch Game 1. Among the notables: UFC president Dana White, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, former Celtics fan favorite Tacko Fall and a slew of NFL players, including a handful of Las Vegas Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles.
Silver joins in
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed several important issues the league is working through that involved streaming, completing a new media deal, expansion, and the WNBA.
But Silver’s opening comments centered to his relationship with Walton.
The players from both teams showed their respect during warm ups by wearing a black jersey the name WALTON emblazoned in rainbow colored tie dye in the front.
The fans were treated to a video testament to Walton’s finest moments in a Celtics’ jersey.
“Bill was someone who became a very close friend in the over the 30 years that I’ve been with the league,” Silver said. “Many of you in this room have been covering the league for a long time, as well, and he traveled with us everywhere we went. I remember the first time we played in China, in 2004, being on the Great Wall with him. He was quite an adventurer. I can’t think of a better ambassador for the NBA than Bill.”