NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 8, 2024

Kristaps Porzingis

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. Tell us how you feel physically coming out of Game 1?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: I feel pretty good. Yeah. Feel good. Not much more to add. Preparing my body for tomorrow.

Q. You said you'll look at it and watch it [Game 1]. What was it like to watch what you were able to accomplish?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Obviously as I said postgame, it was like a relief, being back on the court, healthy, winning games, starting off the series the right way. It was definitely a relief. But yeah, it's like a lot more work to be done and yeah, tomorrow we get another chance on our home floor.

Q. Is there a minutes restriction that you're under?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Yeah.

Q. How much does the extra day, having two days off in between help you as far as getting in extra rehab and things like that?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: It's huge. It's huge, obviously. But yeah, to be honest, the way I moved, looking back now at the game, and I don’t think I even expected myself to be able to be moving so well. That was, again, a good sign for myself and now having two days in between and preparing my body again, getting even probably better conditioning now for next game will be huge.

Q. How would you describe this roller coaster that you've been on in the last month or so where you get to the playoffs, you're having a great season, and then you get hurt and then you come back for the Finals, and you have one of your better games?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Yeah, good, like, how do you say, description of a little bit, especially preparing myself all regular season for the playoffs and round one, something unfortunate happens and staying mentally put and staying in the right place to have the chance to come back later in the playoffs and of course I wanted to come back earlier but it didn't work out that way. But here I am now and healthy and able to put on a good game for my first game back.

Q. What was it like to feel the environment, I know you step on the court and there's a big roar and the fans are so supportive?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: It was insane. I'm not going to lie. Just walking in the tunnel was like a WWE style walk-in. I didn't even know it was for me at first walking out, hearing that crowd roar and getting real excitement to start the game and give everything to these fans that came.

Q. Are you going to request a walk-out song next time with some music?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: We were joking in the back that I should do that next game.

Q. How does Jayson Tatum make life easier for you and everybody else on the court?

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS: Yeah, I think that goes unnoticed a lot of times and what goes unnoticed is he doesn't get the credit a lot of times and he's the first one to get all the blame if he doesn't have a monster game. It's a little bit unfair to him. But hats off to him for taking it on the chin and conducting himself as a champion and being like, I'll do whatever it takes for this team to win.

Of course, he's always the focal point for the other team and JB and then maybe, I don't know, I'm third, fourth, fifth, sixth on the list. That takes a lot of pressure off me. I can have a lot more open looks, a lot more, like, good situations for me. That's credit to JB and JT but especially JT.