McKone: Should a Kristaps Porzingis injury even matter?
It seems like the Celtics have dodged a major bullet. After every heart in Boston dropped as fans watched Kristpas Porzingis limp off the court following a non-contact injury in Game 4, Woj provided an update that allowed fans to take a collective sigh of relief:
For a second it felt like the worst-case scenario coming to fruition. Since Brad Stevens pulled off the deal to bring Porzingis to Boston we have known it was high risk, high reward. Sure, Porzingis could be the missing piece for a team with championship aspirations, but could he stay healthy?
After watching the Celtics rip off 64 regular season wins and win the East by 14 games that question is now out of date. The real question is if Kristaps Porzingis can’t stay heathy should it matter? And the answer is….NO.
The playoff shortcomings for the Celtics over the last few years have been explained away with simple and logical excuses. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were still coming into their own. The team did not have enough playoff experience under their belts. The team had players that did not accept their roles (You can also make the argument their second-best player not being able to dribble was also an issue). I fully admit that last excuse is a stretch. Still, this season none of those excuses are valid.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the best 15 players in the NBA. Derrick White, the star of Game 4, is an all-star caliber player as is Jrue Holiday. There is no other team in the East that comes close to having the talent that Boston has even without Porzingis.
The Celtics have more playoff experience than anyone left in the postseason. The Nuggets won the championship last year but have only made it to the Western Conference Finals one other time with their core. Jaylen has played in FIVE Eastern Conference Finals. No other team left in the playoffs has anything close to approaching that type of experience.
This roster is also full of players that accept their roles. The job that Brad Stevens has done building this team since he took over for Danny Ainge is remarkable. There is no Marcus Smart going rogue with two minutes left. Your backcourt is now made up of two of the highest basketball IQ players in the league.
The starting five for Boston has made the game look easy all season long. Quite frankly because for the most part the game has been really easy for this group. Of course, life is a hell of lot easier with Porzingis in the lineup. But Boston is primed to go on a deep run with or without Porzingis. Expecting anything less is letting them off the hook. They still have two top 15 players with playoff experience and a great supporting cast. Even without Porzingis they should be coming out of the East and putting up a fight against Denver. Thankfully, it looks like we don’t have to find out if they can actually do it.
Tim McKone is a co-host of the Zolak & Bertrand show. Follow him on X @Tim_Mckone