Kristaps Porzingis Details 'Frustrating' Illness After Return to Celtics' Lineup
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porziņģis said it was "extremely, extremely frustrating" to be unable to diagnose the illness that sidelined him for eight games.
"I think it was some sort of upper respiratory thing that turned into something heavier, like bronchitis... something like that, along those lines," Porziņģis said after returning to the Celtics lineup for Saturday night's 115-113 road win over the Brooklyn Nets (h/t Noa Dalzell.)
Porziņģis continued: "I haven't been this sick probably ever, in my life... for a week, just laying at home, trying to recover. And after that, I still had lingering fatigue. And I still have it a little bit, but at least now I'm getting into more or less shape to be able to play.
"After each workout, I was, boom. Big crash. I was really, really fatigued. It's not normal."
Porziņģis played 32 minutes in his return to the lineup, leading the Celtics with 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field.
Prior to Saturday night he had not played since a Feb. 26 loss to the Detroit Pistons, missing eight games over two weeks in what the team called a "non-Covid illness."
According to Porziņģis, tests for what he called "heavier stuff" like mononucleosis came back negative.
Porziņģis told reporters Saturday that he had attempted to push himself to rejoin the Celtics for last Saturday's home game against the Los Angeles Lakers, only to suffer what he called a "historic" crash.
"The next day, I couldn't even get out of the bed to go to shoot around... I went to the arena, I tried to get some shots up, I was just so fatigued, I was like, I'm not going to be a help out there," Porziņģis said (h/t Bobby Krivitsky.) "I'm just going to hurt the team if I push myself."
Porziņģis posted an update Monday on social media in which he said he was "recovering and getting better" from "some viral illness that we haven't been able to fully identify yet."
When asked what made him decide to share the update, Porziņģis said the post was in response to posts on social media questioning his absence from the team.
"I just wanted to let people know I was really dealing with something," Porziņģis said (h/t Noa Dalzell.) "I would never sit out for some cough or something. If I'm out with illness, it has to be a little bit, I can't really play to help the team."
Head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the Celtics' win that he appreciated Porziņģis' "optimism" amidst his recovery. The Celtics will now hope for the continued improvement of the center's health as his team prepares for a Tuesday rematch with the Nets.
