Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has revealed that Kristaps Porzingis is trying everything to be ready for Game 5 of the NBA finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Porzingis missed the fourth game of the series due to a left-leg injury and the Celtics have listed him questionable for the fifth game.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks were able to stay alive in the series with a comprehensive 122-84 win on Friday in Game 4 and the Celtics definitely missed the services of Porzingis. He had also missed the third game of the series.
“I haven’t talked to him yet,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters at TD Garden on Sunday. “Going to talk about that before we start [practice]. … So I’m not sure kind of where he’s at.
“But he’s trying and doing everything he can to try to put himself in position to be out there. I know that for sure.”
Earlier, Porzingis had suffered a right calf strain in the first-round series against the Miami Heat and had to sit out for five weeks before making a comeback in the first game of the NBA finals. But he suffered another injury in the second game of the series.
Jayson Tatum admitted that the team got too focused on clean-sweeping the series.
“I think after Game 4, [Mazzulla] just reminded us to have fun,” Tatum said. “We wanted to go for the kill, essentially, and we wanted to win so bad that maybe we got away from what makes us special and what makes us the Boston Celtics.
“Today, just reminded each guy why he’s important to this team and why we all need each other and what a person brings to the table. I think that was really important for us to go over today.”
Jaylen Brown said the team is focused on completing the job at hand and bagging their record-breaking 18th NBA title.
“This is what we all work for,” Brown said. “We are at the precipice of completing what we set out to do at the beginning of the season.
“So I think it’s not difficult to get everybody in that locker room on the same page right now. It just needs to remind everybody that it’s just one possession at a time. We do it together and we fight like our lives depend on it, and I think we’ll be all right.”
The fifth of the series will be played on Monday.
