By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Since being selected with the fourth pick of the 2015 NBA draft, Kristaps Porzingis has been limited to ten appearances in the Playoffs, all with the Dallas Mavericks in 2020 and 2021. Moving his talents to the Boston Celtics in June, his fourth NBA team clinching homecourt advantage throughout the 2024 Playoffs can boost games played in the postseason.
“Last year, I was sitting back home in Latvia, just following the results and watching the games,” the Latvian forward/center referred to the early end of the 2022-23 campaign with the Washington Wizards, “I am thinking to myself, ‘of course, it is nice to finish the season early, but there is nothing else to do’. What is better to do than play basketball right now? Nothing.”
A 12-point, 10-rebound double-double helped the Celtics top the Portland Trail Blazers in TD Garden on the most recent edition of NBA Sundays.
New York and Spain
Porzingis, 28, is excited to resurface in the Playoffs. However, he struggled to confidently confirm the current situation as his best professional experience.
“It is hard to compare because my time in New York was also out of this world. A rookie, coming out on this big stage,” he described entering the league with the New York Knicks.
“Even before that, when I was living in the south of Spain,” he continued to his experience with Cajasol/Sevilla from 2012 to 2015, “You have one game a week. You win and you go and sit outside. It is a noon game and you are a young guy in a young team winning in the Playoffs.”
“Right now, I think this could be one of the most fun moments for me, for sure,” he added, “This is probably my favorite place.”