Well, Kristaps Porzingis showed the Golden State Warriors that, amongst all the issues he's been going through, he's still got it. The Boston Celtics champion showed out in their play-in victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, as he straight-up dominated the minutes he played (and he wasn't the only one).
You know what? Good for him! It's cool to see he can still bring it when his team needs him to, but the response every Celtics fan should have to this is, where was this last year?! In fact, that is what Celtics fans were asking in real time last night.
Where was this Porzingis last postseason pic.twitter.com/0TtQqgKiuh
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) April 16, 2026
The same Porzingis who barely did anything in the Celtics playoff run last year is suddenly going off in the Bay area? The same Porzingis who struggled posting up freaking Corey Joseph could now suddenly take on anyone the Clippers threw at him?
For everything that went wrong for Boston last year, at the top of the list was Porzingis' disappearing act. It was tolerable against Orlando because the Celtics were well-equipped to withstand his struggles. But against New York, it was so embarrassing that it almost felt like Porzingis was a double agent for his first NBA team.
He could barely do anything, and Mitchell Robinson tossed him like a rag doll when they shared the floor. It was so painful that many were begging Joe Mazzulla to have Luke Kornet take Porzingis minutes, and they were right.
Everyone knows that Porzingis has been struggling with his health issues, which haven't gone away since Boston traded him. While many hope he'll get past them, nights like last night are so frustrating, knowing the Celtics were missing the exact player Porzingis was last night when they needed him most last year.
It's another example of the Kristaps Porzingis experience
A little while back, it seemed laughable that Golden State still planned to keep Porzingis past this season, as his lack of availability issues were still rampant upon becoming a Warrior. But nights like last night show why it seems painfully obvious why they're doing that.
And that basically summarizes what happens when you bring Kristaps Porzingis to your team. He is a very rare archetype of a basketball player, a unicorn if you will, that could seriously elevate your team to an unstoppable force is used correctly.
Unfortunately, you never know if he'll be consistently available, or if he is, what will happen. The Celtics got the Porzingis experience in full. At its peak, no one was stopping them, but due to circumstances, they also hardly ever got to see their freight train take full effect.
Best wishes to Porzingis with the Warriors, but as frustrating as nights can be to the Celtics fanbase, they should consider themselves lucky that they got out.
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