Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis listed as probable due to illness for Game 2 vs. Knicks

After losing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks, now the Celtics will probably have to deal without their main big man Kristaps Porzingis, as he’s currently suffering from a non-COVID-19 illness. The center has been listed as probable for Game 2 this Wednesday night. 

The Latvian athlete missed out of the entire second half of Monday’s 108-105 loss to New York, and his coach Joe Mazzulla explained that his condition might have been related to the same virus that caused him to miss eight games in February and March.

“Since he came back, I think he’s kind of been dealing with it and all fighting through it, working through it, doing the best that he can. And I think it was just too much for him in that game,” the tactician said yesterday after practice. “He had been working through it since he’s gotten back and he’s done a great job of being available and it was just tough for him to continue yesterday.”

Ever since he returned from the upper respiratory illness back in March, he’s been averaging 24.4 points and shooting 59% over his first five games back. Also, teammate Sam Hauser, who sprained his right ankle in the Game 1 defeat, did not practice and has been listed as doubtful for the second match.

Over the past two years, Boston had conquered 125 regular-season games and 20 of their past 24 playoff matches coming into their series with the Knicks, but failed to continue their three-point prowess and fell to defeat at the TD Garden.

“Some of ’em felt good, some of ’em felt like we maybe forced the issue,” said star Jaylen Brown, who only hit one of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc. “Definitely our rhythm and our timing was a little bit off. We got a lot of great looks, but it may be some truth [to shooting too many] today.”

The Celtics certainly saturated their attempts from range as they missed a record of 45 shots from the three-point line on Monday night, as New York beat them in a 108-105 overtime win. The reigning champs took 45 “uncontested” 3-pointers and missed 32 of them.

“Obviously in hindsight, if we could go back, we’d probably drive the ball a little bit more because we missed a lot of shots tonight,” said forward Jayson Tatum, who went 4-of-15 from range. “You can always go back and look and see what you should have done differently.”