Despite a serious foot and ankle injury, Kristaps Porzingis found a way to be on the court for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, helping the Celtics close out their 18th championship — but he wasn’t totally sure how he did it.
“I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to play, if I’m going to play. But my mindset was always, I’m going to try to find a way how I can manage this,” a champagne-soaked Porzingis said after the Celtics won. “And, yeah, somehow I got it going for this game. A lot of it was for sure like the adrenaline from just playing at the Garden and playing in front of our fans and having that opportunity to close it out.”
That adrenaline has worn off and now Porzingis will undergo surgery to repair the torn medial retinaculum, which allowed a dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon. The Celtics announced the surgery.
#NEBHInjuryReport Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 25, 2024
Surgery will be performed in the coming days and
further updates will be provided when available.
This will prevent Porzingis from participating in Latvia’s attempt to qualify for the Paris Olympics through the qualifying tournament they are hosting in Riga from July 2-7
Latvia still rolls out one NBA player in Davis Bertans of the Hornets, plus a lot of seasoned international players. They are in a tough six-team qualifying group with Brazil, Montenegro, Georgia, Philippines and Cameroon.. Only one of those teams will advance to the Paris Olympics.
