Kristaps Porzingis was very blunt when he was asked about how he played in Friday night’s 95-93 Game 3 Celtics loss. “I played like $%#@,” Porzingis said.
He wasn’t wrong.
In 34 minutes, Boston was a -16; in 14 minutes with Porzingis on the bench, the Celtics were +14. Now, plus/minus can sometimes be a whacky stat that doesn’t always tell the whole story, but it does in this case.
One of the biggest mistakes Joe Mazzulla made during the game was leaving KP in the game late instead of Jaylen Brown, who had five fouls.
Over the last four minutes of the game, Orlando scored four points, both coming on Franz Wagner drives where he attacked KP in isolation.
A pretty spin on the first one by Wagner and just a simple blow by on the second. I am not sure Porzingis ever saw him. Orlando was conformable picking on Porzingis and went at it when they needed a basket.
It wasn’t just his defense that was not good. Porzingis’ offense has been terrible through the first three games of the series.
He needs to shoot the ball better. In Game 1, KP shot 13%, in Game 2, he shot 36% and in Game 3 he shot 30%. He has yet to make a three pointer in the series.
He’s looked hesitant. He had a travel in the fourth quarter that was due to indecisiveness. He said after the game he just needs to keep shooting. “My shots feel a little junky right now,” Porzingis said. “I have to keep shooting. What else am I gonna do, ya know? I have to keep shooting.”
I have confidence Porzingis will find his shot. His lack of threes doesn’t bother me. Sometimes you get cold and shots don’t fall. It happens. That is basketball.
It is the other things I have issues with like not being able to take advantage of a mismatch in the post. How many times has it been that a KP post up against Cole Anthony has not led to two points? He has to be more decisive when he is making decisions with the basketball. He has to be a better job of helping out Tatum and Brown with his spacing. A few of his post-ups have gotten in the way of their actions. His defense needs to be better on the perimeter.
He just has not been himself to start this series.
Orlando’s defense has been a factor in this. Jaylen Brown did essentially call them dirty after the game. “I mean, I don’t know…it might be a fight break out or something. It’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball. The refs is not controlling the environment. If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”
That isn’t an excuse for Porzingis to look like this; he has not been his usual self throughout most of the series and that needs to change.
