NBA Finals 2024: Celtics determine Kristaps Porzingis’ status for Game 3

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) gets helped up after injuring his eye while playing the Indiana Pacers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

DALLAS — Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out for Game 3 of the NBA Finals Wednesday night, and he may be done for the series.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there is “real doubt” Porzingis will be able to return in the Finals. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said the medical staff ran the big man through different tests and determined he was unfit to play. Mazzulla also maintained Porzingis is still day-to-day.

Porzingis had been listed as questionable after suffering a tendon dislocation in his left foot/ankle late during the third quarter of the Game 2.

“Just the medical team and the staff just decided that it wasn’t what’s best for him to go tonight,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said pregame Wednesday’s tip-off. “(It will) just be a day-to-day thing to see how he is tomorrow and the next day.”

Porzingis has a “torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg,” according to the team. On Tuesday, Mazzulla described the injury as “serious,” a notable departure for a coach who is usually tight-lipped about player injuries. Both Porzingis and Mazzulla said his status for Game 3 would be up to the team’s medical staff.

The media retinaculum is connective tissue that helps hold tendons in place, including the posterior tibialis, the largest tendon in the ankle that attaches the calf muscle to bones in the foot. It’s a rare injury with minimal NBA precedent, which clouded Porzingis’ status heading into Game 3, despite two off days between last Sunday’s win and Wednesday’s game.

Playing on the ankle could have incurred risk of an injury in his right leg, according to sports medical experts who cited the body’s tendency to overcompensate. Porzingis recently missed five weeks with a calf strain in his right leg. If he played, Porzingis would likely have dealt with pain, limited mobility and possibly some instability in his left ankle, as well.

Porzingis’ official status for Game 4 on Friday is unclear. He told reporters Tuesday he got hurt while battling Dallas center Dereck Lively for a rebound off a Celtics free throw in Game 2, a collision that forced his left leg to bend sideways. Porzingis played through pain until the 4:40 mark of the fourth quarter, when Mazzulla pulled him for the rest of the game.