{"id":15726,"date":"2024-06-01T09:59:50","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T01:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/24hscore.org\/news\/?p=15726"},"modified":"2024-06-02T14:48:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T06:48:34","slug":"nba-finals-celtics-not-sure-if-kristaps-porzingis-plays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/basketball\/nba-finals-celtics-not-sure-if-kristaps-porzingis-plays\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Finals Game 1: Boston Celtics &#8216;not sure&#8217; if Kristaps Porzingis will be ready"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boston Celtics&#8217; standout Kristaps Porzingis remains a question mark for the impending NBA Finals opener, with Coach Joe Mazzulla expressing uncertainty about the 7-foot-2 forward&#8217;s readiness for the crucial clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite intensifying his workouts, Porzingis&#8217; status for Game 1 on June 6 in Boston against either the Dallas Mavericks or Minnesota Timberwolves remains uncertain. The towering forward has been sidelined since suffering a soleus muscle strain in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Miami Heat on April 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his weekly radio interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Coach Mazzulla admitted, &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure. I don&#8217;t know yet,&#8221; regarding Porzingis&#8217; availability. However, he acknowledged Porzingis&#8217; diligent efforts to ramp up his on-court activities. &#8220;He&#8217;s been working hard,&#8221; Mazzulla emphasized. &#8220;There have been instances where he&#8217;s increased his intensity level in individual sessions, although he hasn&#8217;t fully participated in team activities during shootarounds. Nonetheless, he&#8217;s shown steady improvement.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Celtics have maintained an impressive seven-game winning streak and boast a stellar 9-1 record overall since Porzingis&#8217; injury setback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NBA news bites at <a href=\"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/basketball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">24hscore<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Joe Mazzulla tells <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZoandBertrand?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@ZoandBertrand<\/a> that Kristaps Porzingis is &quot;ramping up the intensity level&quot; ahead of the NBA Finals <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/csLOH4pqis\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/csLOH4pqis<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBCSCeltics\/status\/1795841037455229396?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 29, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the uncertainty surrounding Porzingis&#8217; return, the Celtics can rely on veteran Al Horford, whose impactful performances in the Eastern Conference finals played a pivotal role in the team&#8217;s success. Horford remains poised to step up and fulfill any role required by the team in Porzingis&#8217; absence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Porzingis, who averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 57 regular-season starts, exuded optimism in a recent social media post, expressing his anticipation for the finals with a simple message: &#8220;see you in the finals.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Celtics prepare for the pinnacle of basketball competition, the looming question of Porzingis&#8217; availability adds intrigue to their quest for NBA glory. With the championship on the line, Boston remains focused on navigating the challenges ahead, regardless of Porzingis&#8217; status, as they strive to capture basketball&#8217;s ultimate prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston Celtics&#8217; standout Kristaps Porzingis remains a question mark for the impending NBA Finals opener, with Coach Joe Mazzulla expressing uncertainty about the 7-foot-2 forward&#8217;s readiness for the crucial clash. Despite intensifying his workouts, Porzingis&#8217; status for Game 1 on June 6 in Boston against either the Dallas Mavericks or Minnesota Timberwolves remains uncertain. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","rank_math_description":"Boston Celtics' standout Kristaps Porzingis remains a question mark for the impending NBA Finals opener.","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[760,74,910,1161,46,3846],"class_list":["post-15726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","tag-american-sports","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-nba","tag-porzingis-kristaps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15746,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726\/revisions\/15746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}