Woj: 'Real Doubt' Celtics' Kristaps Porziņģis Returns for NBA Finals amid Leg Injury

The Boston Celtics were without Kristaps Porziņģis for Wednesday's Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Finals because of his left posterior tibialis dislocation, and he may not take the court for the rest of the series against the Dallas Mavericks.

"There's real doubt about Kristaps Porziņģis, his availability the rest of this series," ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said. "It was the Celtics' medical staff that ruled him out. They watched him go through some testing earlier today and just decided that they were not going to let him play despite the fact he wanted to push through and participate in Game 3."

It is not surprising that Porziņģis was pushing to play, as he told reporters Tuesday that he felt "good" and was going to try to do everything possible to take the court.

However, Boston's medical staff overruled him, which is exactly what head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters was going to happen when classifying the setback as a "serious injury."

The Celtics are accustomed to playing without their big man, as he was sidelined because of a calf injury for the entire second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

The Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed had no trouble in those series and lost a combined one game thanks in large part to Al Horford's ability to anchor the frontcourt and the contributions from other stars such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

Still, Porziņģis makes the team much better and showed no signs of rust at the start of the NBA Finals when he finished Game 1 with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from deep off the bench.

His presence and ability to dominate fired up the Boston crowd, and he was solid again in Game 2 prior to the injury with 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks on 4-of-7 shooting in 23 minutes.

At this point, it seems like any contributions from Porziņģis for the rest of the series will be a bonus from the Celtics' perspective. But the team can still take solace knowing it has succeeded without him during these playoffs.