Celtics practice notebook: Kristaps Porzingis progresses, Jrue Holiday talks Mazzulla’s ‘craziness’, Payton Pritchard reflects on increased minutes

AUERBACH CENTER, BOSTON — After a couple of days off, the Celtics practiced on Sunday morning, still awaiting their Eastern Conference Finals opponent. It’s become a common theme now: the Celtics play the waiting game for a few days in between rounds, they practice while not knowing who their next opponent is going to be, and instead focus inwards on their own habits and mentalities.

With the Pacers and Knicks set to play Game 7 on Sunday afternoon, Jrue Holiday, Payton Pritchard, and Joe Mazzulla spoke to the media after a Sunday morning practice.

Here’s what you need to know from Sunday’s practice.

Kristaps Porzingis gets in a rigorous bike workout, but no substantive update

There’s still no formal injury update on Kristaps Porzingis, who strained his soleus almost three weeks ago. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Porzingis has been ramping up his on-court play and could return some time this series barring any setbacks, but he’ll most likely miss the first two games at TD Garden.

Porzingis was spotting vigorously working out on an exercise bike at practice, and Joe Mazzulla and Jrue Holiday both said his spirits are high.

“If you know KP, he works hard, and he’s working hard to come back,” Holiday said. “Also, if you know him — he keeps himself engaged. He keeps himself engaged with the team. He’s a great locker room guy, great teammate, somebody who is super, super funny.”

“It’s been pretty easy to keep him engaged, and you know that he wants to play, you know that he wants to get out here and play with his teammates. Seeing him out there, seeing him working has been good. Honestly, just hope that he recovers fast so we can get him out there.”

Joe Mazzulla declined to provide any specifics on Porzingis’ timeline at practice, and when asked if he’s optimistic that Porzingis will return this series, Mazzulla simply said: “I feel like I’m an optimistic person in general.”

Mazzulla echoed Holiday sentiment on Porzingis’s drive to return.

“He’s working hard every single day to make as fast of a recovery as he can,” Mazzulla said. “He’s there for everything. It can’t go underestimated how hard he works trying to come back in a timely fashion.”

Jrue Holiday sheds light on Joe Mazzulla’s ‘craziness’

Jrue Holiday compared Joe Mazzulla’s lectures on mindset and detail to being in a “school session” in one of the most entertaining moments of Sunday’s practice scrums.

“You go with it, you go with the craziness,” Holiday said. “He honestly makes you lock in because it’s so different. You definitely have to pay attention to the things that he says. Sometimes he might talk kind of fast, and he might talk through something, and you kind of have to be like ‘wait, wait, slow down.’

“Really locking in like that helps me, because it really makes me go back and be like what did he say, this is what we want to do. Kind of like a, I don’t know, school session or something like that, to really study what we want to do and really just want to be the best at it.”

It’s not the first time Holiday has referred to Mazzulla ‘craziness’, and when pressed about what he chooses the word crazy, he laughed and said: “‘Cause he’s crazy. If anybody knows Joe, they know he’s crazy. That’s pretty much it.”

Payton Pritchard spoke to how Mazzulla has stressed an emphasis on the mental side of things:

“We’re so talented, and I think our biggest step has been, how do we mentally bridge that gap with our talent?” Pritchard said. “If we become mentally as strong as we are talented, then we’re really dangerous. So, I think that’s what we’ve really been harping on, and we’ve been growing on.”

Payton Pritchard reflects on the increased opportunity this postseason presents

Last season, Payton Pritchard hardly got any minutes during the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, he’s been the top minute-getter off the bench, playing 22.8 minutes a night. Safe to say Pritchard is excited that the team is back in the ECF.

“It’s a great honor,” Pritchard said. “This is where we wanna be every year, playing for a championship. So, we’re just looking forward to this test ahead.”

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pritchard averaged 11.2 points on 52.6% from the field, and throughout this playoff run, Pritchard is shooting 42.9% from three-points.

At practice, reflected on what it was like to not play last postseason, and how it only inspired him to work harder:

“When you’re in the playoffs, you’re watching so many great players play, and performances during these games are unbelievable. So,. as frustrating as it might be not to play, it’s like, you’re watching this, it’s motivating. I remember being a kid growing up, and you watch an NBA game. You watch a player, and you’re like, ‘wow.’ And then my first instinct was like, ‘I want to go to the gym.’”

“So, last year when I was watching these games and I wasn’t playing, it hurt but also motivated me to come in the next day. I put in my work and prepared for the future, not knowing what the future was going to be, but I had big goals and dreams ahead, so that just motivated me to keep working.”