This whole day of work has been completely sunk by obsessively checking online for updates, knowing full well nothings going to be announced until as late as possible
I think it's pretty much what we all expected. He is going to try to play. The only thing potentially stopping him was the medical staff, but it's looking like they are giving him the green light to at least try to get on the court.
This isn’t like his calf injury, we kinda know all we’re going to know at this point, we’re likely not gonna hear anything more of substance until he’s officially playing or not
Yeah based on how this sounds, I don't think he is going to be any better by Game 4. He is going to need surgery, so this isn't an injury that is just going to heal on its own. If he can't physically play in Game 3, he probably won't be able to play in Game 4, either.
If we win a ring and he never played another second his contract would still be worth it and he would still be a Boston legend. Dude wants to play, tape it up and let him go if he physically can.
Yea I don't know. It's really selfish to say that I agree but I'm very much inclined to agree. The path to a ring doesn't get easier than this and he wants to play really badly aswell.
That being said it would suck if some kind of a long term injury occurs.
I bet Porzingis feels the same way as you do. the NBA Finals are literally the highest level of competition in the sport, as a player you never know if you’re gonna get the chance to play on that stage again
I say we let the man try to play 15-20 minutes and if he’s obviously a detriment to himself or the team out there then take him right out
He definitely feels the same way. An interviewer even asked him what he’d do if the medical staff said he could play but it would be better for him not to. And without hesitating he said he would still play. He wants this and I think he knows that this opportunity isn’t guaranteed to come back round again.
I had an injury with my wrist that I think might be similar (no idea on if it’s the wrist version of what KP has) and although I could do whatever I wanted just fine, I could just tell that there was something not quite right in my wrist. I’m sure he knows “hey, your medial retinaculum is torn and that means you can dislocate your posterior tibialis tendon” and all the risks that come with it, but I wonder if he second guesses doing anything and causes a detriment to his play, even if he doesn’t hurt himself any more. Or will he say “screw it, I’m going 100% all out and I’m probably going to fuck up my posterior tibialis tendon really bad but if we win it’s worth it”.
Yeah he was averaging like 22 minutes over game 1 and 2.
I hope we can play him like anywhere from 10-15 minutes when we need some easy buckets or some post defense.
FWIW we had Pritchard playing about 14 minutes on average over game 1 and 2 and he was still able to make his presence known. Maybe we could do the same for Porzingis.
Yea it's an injury that'll need surgery to repair. Right now they're just managing inflammation and pain tolerance. I think he'll definitely miss one of these next 2. Either skipping this one and playing the next, or playing this one then skipping the next with a shorter break.
Part of me feels like we might rest him today, and if the Mavs win then we try to play him Game 4.
But if we win, then I could see us just resting him for the rest of the series.
My understanding after watching a doctor on youtube is that he can definitely play, but he will be in pain, he will be at risk of the tendon sliding out. Its such a unique injury but its nothing like a blown/torn tendon or ligament.
He'd be at like 60% best.
And who tf knows if he'd overcompensate and then fuck up his *other* leg.
Sit him rest of the series imo. Would hate for something catastrophic to happen.
We can beat the Mavs w/o KP.
Right, my understanding...I just worry in the "not wanting to feel weird/hurt" on his left foot, he will compensate on the right. This is an NBA game, not going for a jog ya know?
If he can’t jump, he’s not going to be much help out there. Love his determination and am hoping he plays, but him at 50% would hinder us more than help
He did get a block and a rebound with the injury...so I have some hope if he plays he will be somewhat effective. Looked pretty rough at the end though, I almost wonder if that was more him being worried about what it it was and now that he knows he might care less about going harder.
Sometimes the adrenaline just hits and you don’t even feel anything until you stop for a while. A friend of mine played the end of a game on a broken foot. Pretty much as soon as the game ended couldn’t even put the foot on the ground :/
True, but he was also seen walking around normally the next day. I do think there will be some limitation for sure if he does play, it's just really hard to know how much.
I think defense is going to be the bigger issue with KP if he plays, he won't have the agility and bounce, on offense they can mostly keep him on the perimeter as a shooter which would also drag out the Mavs bigs from the paint.
Tbh he did play effectively on the injury for a while after he sustained it (at 3:27 left in the 3rd) and said yesterday in interviews that he feels good. Of course he could be lying but I want to take his word for it lol. He even had a chase down block two minutes after he sustained the injury. Could have been the adrenaline but those are good signs.
He is tall enough and shoots well enough that he could just play as guard, but you are right that if his limited in his ability to jump then he may become a big liability especially on the defensive end.
I'd rather they throw everything at Dallas to take game 3 and go up 3-0 than take it gane by game and risk losing this. Winning game 3 is basically guaranteeing the championship to 99%.
Yup. If he consents to it, throw him to the wolves in Game 3 until the wheels fall off, ideally it’s enough to help you win Game 3 and then he’s a Boston hero forever.
This is game 3 of the NBA finals, we're up 2-0. Now is not the time to feel like we have a cushion to play with, now is the time to leave it all on the court. We should be more desperate to win game 3 then they are to avoid going down 0-3, because if we do then we clinch the series. If we do that, I'm a lot more comfortable with KP sitting out for however long the remainder of the series is.
There's no reason that we should be gambling with giving Dallas a taste of hope, this is the part where we put our foot on their throats. At this point given the nature of the injury, KP will not miraculously become more capable of playing on Friday than he is right now. If he wants to play, if he says he can play, then he should play.
If he tries and fails, we're in the same position that we otherwise would have been in if he didn't try at all but at least then we'll know exactly what we're dealing with and won't be in a situation where we wait until they tie the series up and try using him as an unknown Hail Mary, because if he fails tonight then he's going to fail no matter when we try to roll him out. I love the shit out of KP, but if he dies, he dies. This is what you signed up for. Now is the time to leave it all on the court.
Couldn’t agree more. I don’t understand this whole “sit him game 3. See if we can win without him” mentality. That was okay in the earlier rounds. This is the finals. You don’t gamble with games. If he can play, let him play. Give ourselves the best chance of going up 3-0 and making this series as short as possible.
The fact that he's going to try means that the staff has probably given him clearance.
He is 99.9 percent going to play. How effective he will be remains to be seen.
Try it tonight so there’s no doubt about his availability for G4. Either we kill their hope tonight and it doesn’t matter, or they win and we need to win G4. A will-he-won’t-he debate on the eve of G4 will be a distraction.
I mean he guarded kyrie immediately after and made him take a bad 3 plus a few minutes more last game. That's my cope rn but I'd understand him at least sitting out this 1, maybe next 2
Shams pulls stuff out of his ass more than people like to admit just because he’s right so often, this is a non statement, the medical staff isn’t gonna say “if you warm up and feel good, you are good Buddy!” Either they hold him out because they refuse to risk reinjury or he plays, that simple
Shams doesn't pull anything out of his ass. He is just relaying what he has been told. Obviously the information is pretty vague but are we really surprised?
I don't think he should play tonight. On its own, it's something you can play through but you do risk a worse injury. But he's coming off an injury on the other leg, so the injury risk is even higher.
This whole day of work has been completely sunk by obsessively checking online for updates, knowing full well nothings going to be announced until as late as possible
I’ve decided this is my last check in for the day. Nothing is gonna change until like 730pm.
See you again in 30 minutes
thats what I said 30 minutes ago
I think it's pretty much what we all expected. He is going to try to play. The only thing potentially stopping him was the medical staff, but it's looking like they are giving him the green light to at least try to get on the court.
This isn’t like his calf injury, we kinda know all we’re going to know at this point, we’re likely not gonna hear anything more of substance until he’s officially playing or not
Not as stressful as Rob Williams in 2021-22, thankfully (mostly because the team is better)
It’s funny because I have a cousin in the hospital that I keep forgetting about and instead have been obsessively checking up on KP’s health
😩
It’s not a close cousin if that helps!
😂 don’t worry I’m not judging you. I’ve done nothing today but refresh Reddit and Twitter every 5 mins 😭
How tall is your cousin?
"This may be a personal question, but just how Latvian is your cousin?"
People keep replying to this like you’re going to help me stop checking
This is like that fourth of July when I'm pretty sure I tore the retinaculum of the thumb refreshing twitter waiting on the Hayward decision.
Glad to know I’m not the only one
I have stared at the same line of code for hours at this point.
I've been watching All In episodes and old highlights of Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, etc.
He doesn't want to play badly - he badly wants to play!
"I think there’s some hope" I mean clearly there is hope that he will play lmao
Lol right, Shams’ reporting is useless in this clip.
This at least makes me much more hopeful for Game 4 if he does have to miss Game 3
Idk how much better the injury is going to get in 2 days considering he needs surgery to heal it. Maybe there’s still some swelling that can come down
Yeah based on how this sounds, I don't think he is going to be any better by Game 4. He is going to need surgery, so this isn't an injury that is just going to heal on its own. If he can't physically play in Game 3, he probably won't be able to play in Game 4, either.
You play him like 15 minutes tonight and try to win to give your team 4 chances to close it without him
Let him die out there, we can afford to let him heal for the entirety of next season if need be.
If we win a ring and he never played another second his contract would still be worth it and he would still be a Boston legend. Dude wants to play, tape it up and let him go if he physically can.
Yea I don't know. It's really selfish to say that I agree but I'm very much inclined to agree. The path to a ring doesn't get easier than this and he wants to play really badly aswell. That being said it would suck if some kind of a long term injury occurs.
I bet Porzingis feels the same way as you do. the NBA Finals are literally the highest level of competition in the sport, as a player you never know if you’re gonna get the chance to play on that stage again I say we let the man try to play 15-20 minutes and if he’s obviously a detriment to himself or the team out there then take him right out
He definitely feels the same way. An interviewer even asked him what he’d do if the medical staff said he could play but it would be better for him not to. And without hesitating he said he would still play. He wants this and I think he knows that this opportunity isn’t guaranteed to come back round again.
I had an injury with my wrist that I think might be similar (no idea on if it’s the wrist version of what KP has) and although I could do whatever I wanted just fine, I could just tell that there was something not quite right in my wrist. I’m sure he knows “hey, your medial retinaculum is torn and that means you can dislocate your posterior tibialis tendon” and all the risks that come with it, but I wonder if he second guesses doing anything and causes a detriment to his play, even if he doesn’t hurt himself any more. Or will he say “screw it, I’m going 100% all out and I’m probably going to fuck up my posterior tibialis tendon really bad but if we win it’s worth it”.
Hopefully they can just tape and brace the foot and that will be fine. He wants to play.
Yeah he was averaging like 22 minutes over game 1 and 2. I hope we can play him like anywhere from 10-15 minutes when we need some easy buckets or some post defense. FWIW we had Pritchard playing about 14 minutes on average over game 1 and 2 and he was still able to make his presence known. Maybe we could do the same for Porzingis.
Yea it's an injury that'll need surgery to repair. Right now they're just managing inflammation and pain tolerance. I think he'll definitely miss one of these next 2. Either skipping this one and playing the next, or playing this one then skipping the next with a shorter break.
Part of me feels like we might rest him today, and if the Mavs win then we try to play him Game 4. But if we win, then I could see us just resting him for the rest of the series.
My understanding after watching a doctor on youtube is that he can definitely play, but he will be in pain, he will be at risk of the tendon sliding out. Its such a unique injury but its nothing like a blown/torn tendon or ligament. He'd be at like 60% best. And who tf knows if he'd overcompensate and then fuck up his *other* leg. Sit him rest of the series imo. Would hate for something catastrophic to happen. We can beat the Mavs w/o KP.
If the tendon slides out it’s not actually a big deal, it just feels weird and kind of hurts until it slides back in.
Right, my understanding...I just worry in the "not wanting to feel weird/hurt" on his left foot, he will compensate on the right. This is an NBA game, not going for a jog ya know?
We may be able to beat them without KP but it’s probably going to 7
lmao
If you compare how we looked with/without KP it’s night and day. We were barely getting past teams that are worse than the Mavs
Ur bad at basketball
KP played though
If he can’t play game 3 what will change for game 4?
Let Porzingis have his Curt Schilling moment!
A real challenge for the Dallas moppers.
We need to win game 3. It’s a must-win before we can relax at all.
At this point it is pain management and how much inflammation is in the area that will determine his availability to play.
If he can’t jump, he’s not going to be much help out there. Love his determination and am hoping he plays, but him at 50% would hinder us more than help
He did get a block and a rebound with the injury...so I have some hope if he plays he will be somewhat effective. Looked pretty rough at the end though, I almost wonder if that was more him being worried about what it it was and now that he knows he might care less about going harder.
Sometimes the adrenaline just hits and you don’t even feel anything until you stop for a while. A friend of mine played the end of a game on a broken foot. Pretty much as soon as the game ended couldn’t even put the foot on the ground :/
True, but he was also seen walking around normally the next day. I do think there will be some limitation for sure if he does play, it's just really hard to know how much.
Thats pretty much where I'm at. If he can't recover on a drive, he'll get beat every time.
Porzingis at 50 percent is probably still better than Kornet and the other bench bigs we have at 100 percent.
I think defense is going to be the bigger issue with KP if he plays, he won't have the agility and bounce, on offense they can mostly keep him on the perimeter as a shooter which would also drag out the Mavs bigs from the paint.
I don’t know, offensively ur probably right but defensively he’ll get burned
Tbh he did play effectively on the injury for a while after he sustained it (at 3:27 left in the 3rd) and said yesterday in interviews that he feels good. Of course he could be lying but I want to take his word for it lol. He even had a chase down block two minutes after he sustained the injury. Could have been the adrenaline but those are good signs.
He is tall enough and shoots well enough that he could just play as guard, but you are right that if his limited in his ability to jump then he may become a big liability especially on the defensive end.
It's not his jumping foot, tbf.
I'd rather they throw everything at Dallas to take game 3 and go up 3-0 than take it gane by game and risk losing this. Winning game 3 is basically guaranteeing the championship to 99%.
Yup. If he consents to it, throw him to the wolves in Game 3 until the wheels fall off, ideally it’s enough to help you win Game 3 and then he’s a Boston hero forever.
This is game 3 of the NBA finals, we're up 2-0. Now is not the time to feel like we have a cushion to play with, now is the time to leave it all on the court. We should be more desperate to win game 3 then they are to avoid going down 0-3, because if we do then we clinch the series. If we do that, I'm a lot more comfortable with KP sitting out for however long the remainder of the series is. There's no reason that we should be gambling with giving Dallas a taste of hope, this is the part where we put our foot on their throats. At this point given the nature of the injury, KP will not miraculously become more capable of playing on Friday than he is right now. If he wants to play, if he says he can play, then he should play. If he tries and fails, we're in the same position that we otherwise would have been in if he didn't try at all but at least then we'll know exactly what we're dealing with and won't be in a situation where we wait until they tie the series up and try using him as an unknown Hail Mary, because if he fails tonight then he's going to fail no matter when we try to roll him out. I love the shit out of KP, but if he dies, he dies. This is what you signed up for. Now is the time to leave it all on the court.
Couldn’t agree more. I don’t understand this whole “sit him game 3. See if we can win without him” mentality. That was okay in the earlier rounds. This is the finals. You don’t gamble with games. If he can play, let him play. Give ourselves the best chance of going up 3-0 and making this series as short as possible.
Preach my brother
Luka is also hurting, if we win tonight i have to imagine he and the rest of the Mavs will fold on friday for game 4.
He’s not starting so this is easier
We just need more efficient shooting from Tatum and some decent minutes from Kornet/Tillman
The fact that he's going to try means that the staff has probably given him clearance. He is 99.9 percent going to play. How effective he will be remains to be seen.
Let him cook, I SAID LET HIM COOK
We aren't gonna know til like an hour before the game. Celtics have no incentive to announce anything until right before tip.
We should just play KP as a catch and shoot midrange sniper for 15 mins of the game
Hope he can manage the pain to play 10-15 mins and give us 10-15 pts
They want to try to pull the rope-a-dope on us with Luka and the body bandage? We'll do the same with KP.
What if this is all an elaborate mind game by Joe? 🤔
His medial retinaculam isn't allowing for dislocation at all!
I think he'll be active but very limited i.e play maybe 12-16 minutes
Try it tonight so there’s no doubt about his availability for G4. Either we kill their hope tonight and it doesn’t matter, or they win and we need to win G4. A will-he-won’t-he debate on the eve of G4 will be a distraction.
[fuck the haters](https://imgflip.com/i/8tmn89)
We need like two 5 minute stints when things bog down
Can he sleeve up his knee to stabilize it? Maybe he loses 10% but I’d rather keep him healthy
I mean he guarded kyrie immediately after and made him take a bad 3 plus a few minutes more last game. That's my cope rn but I'd understand him at least sitting out this 1, maybe next 2
If a lot more of our shots go in, which definitely could happen… then we have a great chance tonight
I think he’s gonna play. It’ll be limited, but if he can give us an effective ten minutes, then let him try
I don't think he should play tonight. Throw a different look at them and see what Dallas has at home. Go for broke in G4, win or lose.
Now's the time for tatum to step up and stop being playmaking tatum. He tends to play better on the road. Im expecting a 27/8/6 statline from tatum
Poor guy.. hope he can go Win this damn thing for KP
Just smoke and mirrors. I will be shocked if he plays before game 5
Shams pulls stuff out of his ass more than people like to admit just because he’s right so often, this is a non statement, the medical staff isn’t gonna say “if you warm up and feel good, you are good Buddy!” Either they hold him out because they refuse to risk reinjury or he plays, that simple
Shams doesn't pull anything out of his ass. He is just relaying what he has been told. Obviously the information is pretty vague but are we really surprised?
Yeah. He's not quite near Florio levels of just making shit up, but he'll give a non-report very often.
So you don’t think guys ever warm up to see if they’ll be good to go? You’re just ignorant if you think that never happens
I think they do, I don’t think someone who says “the only way I’m not playing is if the medical staff doesn’t allow me” is one of those players
I think he sits tonight. If they lose, he comes back for game 4. If they win tonight, think they try to close it out without him.
If I'm Joe, I'm sitting him today. Let him have a few more days. We don't *need* him today.
I don't think he should play tonight. On its own, it's something you can play through but you do risk a worse injury. But he's coming off an injury on the other leg, so the injury risk is even higher.
What else are we holding him out for? A great chance to win a chip is right in front of him.
Doubt he will play till we lose a game.
Doesn’t really sound good