Bloodied Kristaps Porzingis relishes latest ‘WWE moment’ in Celtics’ Game 2 win

Kristaps Porzingis is both a center and a showman He lives for the roar of the crowd especially when that crowd is inside TD Garden He s the closest thing to a professional wrestler on the Celtics roster and he wears that title proudly So when an errant elbow from Magic center Goga Bitadze left Porzingis leaking blood from a gash on his forehead he capitalized on a chance for another WWE moment After trainers placed a towel over his bleeding head Porzingis broke into a wide devilish smile and gestured to the crowd as he walked toward the Celtics tunnel A scant seconds later he was back on the court shooting two free throws with a bulky band-aid above his left eye Porzingis then headed back to the training room received five stitches to close the cut and returned to play six of the final seven minutes in Boston s - win over Orlando which gave the Celtics a - lead in the first-round playoff series Checking out and watching the rest of the tournament from the locker room Porzingis announced was never a consideration Honestly how can I not come back out he stated Like Oh I have five stitches I can t play anymore My legs work everything works so of lesson 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 event and this is not going to stop me So I m going to keep going Related Articles Jaylen Brown leads Tatum-less Celtics past Magic in Event After Sixth Man of the Year nod Payton Pritchard has sights on Celtics title Jayson Tatum injury Celtics star ruled out for Contest still day to day Celtics Payton Pritchard wins Sixth Man of the Year after career season Jayson Tatum doubtful for Celtics-Magic Contest with bone bruise in wrist The scene mirrored a similar case three weeks earlier when Porzingis took a shot to the nose during a late-season win over the Phoenix Suns That blow opened up a cut between his eyes and he grinned and raised his arms triumphantly as he exited the court Porzingis did not reenter that meaningless meeting but he did return to the bench after getting four stitches on the bridge of his nose I love my WWE moments for sure disclosed Porzingis who also received rousing ovations from the Garden crowd after he returned from his lower leg injuries in last year s NBA Finals It just happens in the event you know And then you know me like I inevitably love engaging with the crowd And I already knew like getting hit again blood again like the crowd was going to just you know go with it So it was cool It was fun Porzingis was more than a sideshow in Boston s Encounter win He bounced back from an underwhelming five-point performance in the series opener to notch points rebounds two assists and two steals He went just -for- from the field and -for- from -point range but offset those shooting struggles by tying his season high in free-throw attempts -for- and being proceeding on the offensive glass five offensive boards The Celtics outscored the Magic by points over Porzingis minutes the best mark of any performer I was just more aggressive Porzingis noted My shot s still you know rushed maybe a meager shots I still feel like I have a much higher level to play offensively especially I missed a lot I missed even free throws I missed a lot of stuff So I expect myself to be a lot better offensively First contest was not ideal maybe a bit too passive in particular moments also So just staying aggressive and finding my rhythm Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla commended Porzingis for bringing a physical dimension for us on both ends of the floor that s really fundamental against the rough-and-tumble Magic who have committed personal fouls and two flagrants including one on Bitadze for the aforementioned elbow through two playoff games We re going to be us Porzingis reported We re not going to let anybody punk us 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 selected reaction out of us various technical maybe something It s an emotional meeting obviously so we weren t surprised but we re just not going to take it So we re going to hit them right back The uber-intense Mazzulla who famously stated he wished the Garden parquet had tasted like blood after he kissed it during the Celtics banner-raising ceremony also enjoyed seeing Porzingis head wound and ensuing theatrics I think he has an innate ability to take things very serious and at the same time have great perspective the coach disclosed You see how he can control his atmosphere 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 And yeah I do I love watching him I like watching him bleed on the court I think it s major and then he comes back in and does his job So I do like that about him