Kristaps Porzingis lauded for not entertaining Bam Adebayo rivalry in Miami Heat-Boston Celtics series

FanSided's Kyle Delaney believes it was wise for Kristaps Porzingis not to entertain the Bam Adebayo rivalry narrative while speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the Boston Celtics' 114-94 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 1 victory over the Miami Heat.

"All in all, it was wise of Kristaps not to feed into the narrative being pushed by the media since doing so might accidentally give Miami some added motivation/bulletin board material," Delaney prefaced before saying, "If Kristaps' response is any indication, this series is all business for the Celtics."

Porzingis wanted reporters to be focus on the fact that it's not a one-on-one between the teams' two starting centers, but rather a five-on-five game between the past two Eastern Conference champions.

“I don’t care about him," Porzingis said of Adebayo (h/t The Athletic's Jared Weiss). "I care about our team and what we’re trying to achieve. This isn’t one on one, me against Bam. This is Celtics vs. Heat.”

Bam Adebayo made excuses for Heat's Game 1 loss to Boston Celtics

Porzingis most certainly won the PR battle against Adebayo following the C's easy breezy victory over the Heat in Game 1.

When addressing Miami's decisive loss, Adebayo blamed Boston's 14-2 run at the beginning of the game as to why it wasn't a closer game.

"I feel like it's a different ball game if they don't get off to a hot start at the beginning. You know, like you said, we went on a run in the fourth," Adebayo told reporters (h/t Inside The Celtics). "But, if that start doesn't happen, if there's a ball in the air or a ball on the floor and we get those 50-50 balls, it's a different ballgame."

Essentially, Adebayo tried to say that if the Celtics had scored less points, it would've been a closer game. As if points at the start of the game don't count the same as any other point scored in the 48 minutes.

Not Bam's best work. He has at least three more games to correct that and deliver a non-cope message to reporters afterwards.