Celtics’ Kristaps Porziņģis making progress from calf strain, no timetable for return

BOSTON — Kristaps Porziņģis stated Saturday he’s slowly making progress from his proper soleus (calf) pressure suffered in Game 4 of the Boston Celtics’ first-round collection towards the Miami Heat however doesn’t have a timetable for return but.

“There’s no specific date obviously. It’s still pretty early,” Porziņģis stated. “I think it will be clear once I start doing more stuff. … Not super close yet. But expecting to recover at a historic rate.”

Porziņģis stated he hopes to return as quickly as he feels higher, however that could be some time.

“It’s something; it’s not nothing. So it will take a little bit of time, for sure,” he stated. “But I’m doing everything I can to speed it up because I want to be back out there as soon as possible. But, understanding like, the worst thing would be like probably to re-aggravate that. So being smart.”

Dr. Daniel Kharrazi, an orthopedic surgeon on the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, stated a Grade 1 soleus pressure sometimes takes one to 2 weeks of restoration, a Grade 2 takes two to 3 weeks, and a Grade 3, which is a whole tear of the muscle, takes 4 to 6 weeks.

“From what I understand, Porziņģis’ injury is a grade 2 and the recovery I would be hoping is somewhere in the two- to three-week mark,” Kharrazi stated. “A lot of reports said it’s similar to what Giannis Antetokounmpo had and I understand Giannis had a Grade 2.”

Porziņģis stated he’s being aggressive along with his rehab and taking issues daily, then shortly corrected himself to say week by week. He suffered the damage on April 29, so simply over per week can have handed when the second spherical begins. He stated the damage was a product of a number of occasions in a brief interval.

“I was going for a rebound and I stepped on Tyler Herro and rolled my ankle. Came back, maybe started to compensate with the other side a little bit too much or something, I don’t know,” Porziņģis stated. “As soon as I pushed off, I felt something.”

Kristaps Porziņģis grabbed at his proper leg after a contest simply earlier than this play, then pulled up lame right here. Just a few performs later he requested to be subbed out.

Celtics say he’s uncertain with proper calf tightness. He has missed time for a proper hamstring pressure and left calf pressure,… pic.twitter.com/JGMnvmXooW

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 30, 2024

“I don’t think it’s coincidental,” Kharrazi stated. “Some of the gluteal and ankle issues may have caused him to be running off-balance and not protecting the muscle. That alteration in mechanics can predispose you to something like this.”

Whenever somebody pulls up lame with a calf pressure, the rapid concern is whether or not it’s an Achilles damage, which regularly requires surgical procedure and a big restoration interval.

“You saw my reaction on the court. Then once we got the diagnosis, I calmed down,” Porziņģis stated. “It looks like it’s not as bad as I initially thought. Yeah, it is what it is. Nobody wants to get hurt. But at least it’s like not as bad as it could’ve been.”

According to Kharrazi, an damage to the soleus could seem alarming at first however sometimes has a simple rehab course of.

“Calf strains are typically gastroc strains, which is (the muscle) on the outside portion of the leg. Ninety percent of the time when the leg is injured with a calf strain, it’s a gastroc medial head injury,” Kharrazi stated. “The soleus muscle is much deeper than the gastroc. But the good news is the soleus is very vascular, it has a good blood supply. With the deeper strains, though it can be a little bit more force causing that injury, the recovery is not extremely protracted. So usually 2-to-3 weeks should be the timeline.”

Antetokounmpo, who suffered a soleus pressure towards the Celtics on April 9, missed three weeks and was listed as uncertain to make his playoff debut when the Milwaukee Bucks’ season resulted in Game 6 on Thursday. He advised reporters Friday that he was nonetheless weeks away from returning.

“The day of Game 4 in Indiana, that was the first time I was able to jog on my body weight since April 9,” Antetokounmpo stated, per The Athletic’s Eric Nehm. “So, I think I tried my best to come back to help my teammates. It’s kind of hard to see them being out there and not being able to help them. But I just couldn’t.”

Porziņģis stated he has not began operating but. According to Kharrazi, an athlete recovering from a Grade 2 pressure usually wants a minimum of one week earlier than they will start jogging.

“I’m not on the floor yet. But very soon I expect to start doing stuff,” he stated. “Still in the weight room, still movement and slowly like building up. I would say each day it’s a lot of progress, still very fresh, but making progress and feel good.”

Porziņģis stated after controlling the irritation after the damage, he and the coaching workers have been centered on introducing some motion “without stressing it too much.”

“Every day is a pretty big jump each day, so I expect Monday to be pretty good and go from there,” he stated.

This is just not the primary calf pressure Porziņģis has suffered this season, as he strained his left calf towards Orlando on November 24 and missed the following 4 video games.

“This one is stronger. Worse, yeah,” he stated. “I didn’t want to use that word, but just a little bit worse for sure. And yeah, just going to take a little bit longer. But keeping a positive mindset.”

Porziņģis missed 25 video games in the course of the common season, during which the Celtics went 21-4. But this may possible be the primary time he misses greater than 10 days in a row, which is irritating for him because it’s his first likelihood to play past the primary spherical of the playoffs in his profession.

“Tough, tough, tough. I’m not gonna lie, it’s tough,” Porziņģis stated. “First few moments was really tough. It gets you down for a second. It is what it is. It’s part of the sport and these things happen.”

By the time the Celtics open the second spherical towards both Cleveland or Orlando, Porziņģis can be greater than per week into his damage. The Celtics will possible be with out him a minimum of early within the coming collection and maybe for the period of the collection. His absence will put a highlight on Al Horford, who’s nonetheless enjoying at a excessive stage at 37 years previous. The Celtics outscored the Heat by 50 factors over Horford’s 128 minutes in the course of the first spherical and haven’t suffered a lot, if in any respect, over his spot begins this season. They had a 26-7 report with him within the first unit.

One potential drawback: the Porziņģis damage will put extra of a burden on Horford and doubtlessly put severe miles on his veteran legs. It can be attention-grabbing to see how coach Joe Mazzulla approaches Horford’s enjoying time whereas Porziņģis is out.

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(Photo: Danielle Parhizkaran / The Boston Globe by way of Getty Images)