BOSTON — As soon as his 7-foot-3-inch frame plummeted to the parquet court Wednesday night in Boston, Kristaps Porzingis immediately placed both hands on the gnarly gash across his split-open forehead, seemingly trying to plug a wound that would soon require five stitches.
Then, the Boston Celtics center wanted to survey the damage. Porzingis lifted his hands, now wet from the wound, and as blood began pooling on his face and rushing in fast-moving streaks down the back of his skull, he looked up at the red gore that coated his palms and fingers.
It was late in the third quarter of the Celtics’ 109-100 Game 2 win over the Orlando Magic at TD Garden, and, moments before, Porzingis had received a vicious elbow to the face from Magic center Goga Bitadze when the two were fighting for a loose ball.
But quickly, as he lay bleeding on the court, Porzingis thought back to a moment a few weeks prior, to a home game in early April, when he took an opponent’s elbow to the nose.
Blood streaked down his face then, too, and Porzingis, an avid wrestling fan, reveled in the moment, rising to his feet and pumping up Celtics fans at TD Garden.
“I love my WWE moments,” Porzingis said after tallying 20 points and 10 rebounds to help the Celtics take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series. “And then you know me. I always love engaging with the crowd. And I already knew, getting hit again, blood again — the crowd was going to go with it.”
After taking the blow, Porzingis rose to his feet and started toward the locker room, with a towel atop his head as blood poured down his nose. He then broadcast an ear-to-ear smile and pointed to the crowd as Celtics fans rose to their feet and erupted in deafening cheers.
“He loves UFC, so I was like, this is perfect,” Celtics guard Payton Pritchard said. “It was fitting for him.”
After an official review, Bitadze was called for a flagrant foul, and, soon after, Porzingis emerged from the tunnel to shoot the free throws, with dried blood streaks across his head and a large bandage covering his forehead. The Celtics crowd roared and began chanting “K-P! K-P! K-P!” Porzingis pointed to the fans, beaming a wide grin.
“Honestly, how can I not come [back] out?” Porzingis said. “Like, ‘Oh, I have five stitches, I can’t play anymore.’ My legs work, everything works, so of course I’m going to be out there. And you know me. I like these moments. Coming back out again, getting a little love from the crowd. It just happens within the game and this is not going to stop me. So I’m going to keep going.”
Said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, “I like watching him bleed on the court. I think it’s important, and then he comes back in and does his job. So I do like that about him.”
The moment encapsulated a series that has quickly become defined by physical play. In Game 1 Sunday, Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope collided mid-air with Celtics star Jayson Tatum, sending him crashing to the ground and injuring his right wrist, which sidelined him in Wednesday’s game. Celtics center Al Horford took issue with the play in the moment, saying the Magic — and especially Caldwell-Pope — stepped over the line.
In Wednesday’s game, Horford and Caldwell-Pope became tangled up in the first half while running up the court. Both players hit the floor, and Horford quickly rose to his feet, appearing ready to charge Caldwell-Pope. But Mazzula and Celtics guard Jrue Holiday held Horford back.
“We’re not going to let anybody punk us,” Porzingis said. “And we expect teams to be doing this kind of stuff, to get in our heads, to try to provoke us, to try to maybe get some reaction out of us, some technical [foul] maybe, something. It’s an emotional game, obviously, so we weren’t surprised, but we’re just not going to take it. So we’re going to hit them right back.”
Said Pritchard, “It’s the playoffs, baby. That’s what it is, so we knew what they were going to do. That’s what I told Al after. I’m like, ‘It’s just fun. This is basketball now.’
With Tatum sidelined for the first time in his postseason career, the Celtics were lifted by All-Star Jaylen Brown, who scored a game-high 36 points and added 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
“At the end of the day, he’s willing to do whatever it takes for us to win,” Mazzulla said. “And he didn’t come in saying he had to get 36 and 10. He came in and said, ‘I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.’ And that’s what he told me yesterday. That’s just the mindset that he has.”
Said Brown, “I think in my first interview [in] Boston, I said I was going to go to war for this city, and I don’t think nothing has changed. So whatever it takes, every single night.”
After the game, Porzingis addressed reporters with the fresh stitches across his forehead, offering a smile and many light-hearted remarks.
Mazulla praised the center’s perspective.
“I think he has an ability, an innate ability, to take things very serious, and at the same time have great perspective,” Mazulla said. “You see how, I think, he can control his environment really well with how he handles the crowd and how he handles the physicality of it, and he can maintain his poise, and he just has a great way about him. I think that that helps us.”
When Mazzulla’s quote was shared with him, Porzingis became reflective.
“In my career, I’ve had a lot of ups, but I’ve had a lot of downs,” he said. “I’ve been out with injuries, so when I have the actual moment to play basketball, I try to enjoy it to the fullest. I’m smiling, I’m having fun, I’m trying to engage with the fans. It comes pretty naturally to me and especially playing here in Boston, getting this love.
“For me, there is no better place to do it, on the biggest stage and getting all of this love. This is what I dreamed of, and especially with my history, I enjoy every moment on the floor to the fullest.”