Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis reveals NBA Finals Game 2 lineup status

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Kristaps Porzingis, NBA Finals, Celtics, Game 2, Mavericks

On Sunday night, Kristaps Porzingis and the Boston Celtics will look to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Finals series vs the Dallas Mavericks after winning Game 1 on Thursday night from TD Garden. Porzingis made his return from over a month long injury absence in Game 1 and made his impact felt immediately, scoring 18 points in the first half and blocking several shots on the other end to essentially put the game out of reach for the Mavericks by the time the first quarter had ended.

For precautionary reasons following the calf injury Porzingis suffered in the first round vs the Miami Heat, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff decided to bring the Latvian big man off of the bench in Game 1, although he was the first Boston sub into the game, checking in less than five minutes into action before immediately going on a personal run.

This led some folks to wonder whether the Celtics would elect to do the same thing on Sunday evening when Game 2 gets underway, and recently, Porzingis revealed that he will indeed be coming off of the bench once again, per Malika Andrews of ESPN on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.

A shocking run

Although Porzingis was expected to make an impact in this series following his return from injury, few could have anticipated that he would come out as aggressively as he did on Thursday evening, burying several jumpers against tight Mavericks defense and blocking several shots on the other end of the floor, including a dunk attempt by Mavericks guard/forward Josh Green on a fast break opportunity.

The Celtics led by just two points when Porzingis entered the game and would go on to lead by as many as 29 just a few minutes later, thanks in large part to the big man’s insane shot making and floor spacing that was on full display.

Although the Mavericks are likely to gameplan more heavily for the Porzingis element on Sunday, it’s unclear at this point just how much they can do to deter him when he’s shooting as well as he did during Game 1.