Latvian basketball fans are rooting for ‘unicorn’ Porziņģis in the NBA finals – The World from PRX

The Boston Celtics are facing the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals, and they’re now just one win away from clinching the championship.

One of the players who helped lead them there is 7-foot-3-inch star center Kristaps Porziņģis. 

Fans in his native Latvia hope their favorite player will return for Game 4 on June 14 — after sustaining injuries — and ultimately, become the first Latvian NBA champion.

Porziņģis, who is from Liepāja, Latvia, comes from a basketball family.

“My older brother was a professional basketball player, and my middle brother also played. My mom is 6’1, dad is 6’4 and I’m 7’3,” he said during a 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Porziņģis was drafted into the NBA in 2015, and soon enough, people around the league started calling him “the unicorn,” a nickname given to him by Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant.

At first, Porziņģis admitted he was confused by the nickname, but now, Porziņģis and all basketball fans know what it means to be a “unicorn.” A unicorn is a ball player with a unique — or almost unbelievable skill set.

What makes Porziņģis unique is his extreme length and ability to shoot deep 3-pointers.

In Riga, former professional basketball player Žanis Peiners recalled a scrimmage against Porziņģis for the first time in 2017, when they were both on the Latvian national team.

“For me, the funniest thing was probably when you are guarding him, he faces up, shoots over you, and I’m like, 6’8, 6’ 9 almost, and I’m trying to block, and I’m like barely touching his elbow, and I was like, what is this? Like, how is this possible,” he said.

Peiners and Porziņģis eventually hit it off and became friends. Peiners is now one of his personal trainers.

Porziņģis had an all-star-level season this year. But one thing that’s plagued him has been his health. He’s had multiple injuries throughout his career — and this year, early in the playoffs, it happened again: Porziņģis strained his calf muscle, which kept him off the court for 10 games. 

Peiners was in touch with him throughout the recovery process.

“He was pretty down mentally because he understood what it means,” Peiners said. “It was about him not getting hurt, and he got hurt in the playoffs, so he was a little bit depressed.”

A week ago, Porziņģis returned in Game 1 of the NBA finals.

The Boston crowd greeted Porziņģis with a standing ovation — he went on to dominate the game. But now, despite the fairytale return to the finals, the injury rollercoaster ride with Porziņģis continues.

Following Game 2, he was ruled “questionable” after sustaining another injury.

But that fact hasn’t stopped Latvian fans from getting up in the middle of the night to watch the Celtics play.

About 10 Latvian basketball fans gathered at a motorcycle clubhouse in Riga at 3 a.m. to watch Game 3 on a giant screen.

They’re disappointed that Porziņģis is injured, but they’re still bringing passion to the team. Some of them sport Porziņģis jerseys or other Celtics paraphernalia. Reinis Kazāks is one of the organizers of this fan club.

“You know, we are only 2 million here in Latvia, and our guy plays in the NBA. Super proud of him,” Kazāks said. “I’m now a Boston fan, and we are lucky to see our guy in finals.”

Kazāks and other fans have traveled to the US to watch Porziņģis play in the NBA.

Another fan, Miks Galvanovskis, said that because Latvia is such a small country, some fans have mutual friends with Porziņģis or have met him before.

“Kristaps knows that we are watching here, too, and we have a lot of good friends in common with him,” Galvanovskis said. “His name over here will never be forgotten, let’s say that.”