Will Kristaps Porzingis play against the Cavs in Game 3 today?

After being on the end of a pummeling in the first game, Cleveland gave the Celtics a taste of their own medicine. They beat Joe Mazzulla’s by 24 points at TD Garden, winning their first game on the road during the postseason to tie the series.

Celtics head coach coach Joe Mazzulla admitted afterwards that his team was out-rebounded, outclassed and outplayed: “When you lose a game like that, it could be a combination of tactics, a combination of effort, a combination of a little of all those things at times - not to say it was one thing the entire time. The transition defence is a byproduct of your offensive spacing and shot selection so that’s not an effort thing, as much as an execution thing. They beat us to a few of the loose balls, especially in that first half. They did a better job pressuring us, they did a better job helping at the rim and forcing us into some 2-on-1s. They did a good job, especially in the pick and roll, they tested our pick and roll defence - we need to get better at that”.

Porzingis has missed the last four games

Mazzulla has been without KP, the man in charge of protecting the rim for the last four games. The Cs have coped in his absence up until now. The Latvian center picked up a calf muscle injury in Round 1, retiring at the end of the second quarter of Game 3 against the Heat. At the time, Porzingis was reported to be suffering tightness to his right calf muscle but it appears the issue is obviously a little more serious than overexertion.

While Boston have not detailed the extent of Porzingis’ injury, and Mazzulla hasn’t given any fresh updates, it is believed that the player has suffered a sprain. If that is a the case, even in the best case scenario, a Grade I sprain would take 2-3 weeks to fully heal.

The towering 7′3″ center is the only player on Boston’s injury list and is ruled out of Game 3 as the series moves to Cleveland. Porzingis was seen performing light shooting drills during the team’s practice on Wednesday and told reporters he is taking one step at a time: “There’s no specific date obviously. It’s still pretty early. I think it will be clear once I start doing more stuff. Not super close yet. But expecting to recover at a historic rate”.

Porzingis’ injury history

KP has struggled with his fitness throughout his career and his availability has been up and down since he joined Boston from the Wizards last June. He has been sidelined with a diverse range of injuries, sprains and knocks including: hamstring, ankle, knee back and quad injuries. He played 57 games during the regular season, averaging 29.6 minutes per game.

An imposing figure in Boston’s defence Porzingis is the team’s main rim protector with a defensive rating of 108.6 this season. Mazzulla wants to have all of his key players fit for this crucial part of the season but insisted that he won’t be rushing anyone back if they are injured. The Cs have been progressing well in Porzingis’ absence.

Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics will be played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Saturday 11 May, tipping off at 8:30 p.m. ET.