Wondering about the Porzingis effect on the Celtics' chances, and other thoughts - The Boston Globe

"I think this is the best team they've had in a while," said Cowens. "They played with a lot of different lineups. We didn't do that as much. We played the same guys all the time.

"The Celtics this year became a much deeper and a better team because of Porzingis and [Jrue] Holiday. And [Al] Horford — has he qualified for Medicare yet? He's a great player, stands his ground, can make threes, and protects the basket.

"They have him and they've had some good showings from [Luke] Kornet. I like the way Kornet plays. He brings a little something special to it. I like his attitude. He's no slouch."

Swell. But the Porzingis injury set off alarms in Celtic Nation. There's been a championship-or-bust narrative around this team since Brad Stevens shook up the roster after last year's (conference finals) collapse, and until now we have viewed them as a team with no excuse.

Now they have an excuse.

New England sports fans have been blessed with 12 championship teams in this century. Before the new millennium, the Celtics won 16 banners with Bill Russell, Havlicek, and Larry Bird. But longtime fans still recite potential championship seasons that evaporated in the medical tent. Green Teamers like to think that:

— The 1957-58 Celtics (NBA's best regular-season record) would have beaten the Hawks in the Finals if Russell hadn't rolled his ankle in the third minute of the third game. Russell played only 20 minutes of the final three games, and the Celtics lost in six.

— The '72-73 team (best regular-season record) would have won if not for Havlicek's injury.

— The 2008-09 defending champions would have repeated if not for a knee injury that caused Kevin Garnett to miss the playoffs.

— The 2009-10 Celtics would have won if Kendrick Perkins didn't miss Game 7 of the Finals after tearing knee ligaments in Game 6 against the Lakers.

Losers' laments every one.

Here's hoping Porzingis's soleus strain is not added to the list.

▪ Quiz: Name five champion Celtics players who went on to win an additional title with another team after winning with the Celtics (answer below).

▪ UCF wide receiver Javon Baker has tremendous energy and confidence. He didn't like waiting until Day 3 to get drafted, and after he was selected by the Patriots, he had this quote ready: "Just come to y'all stadium and bring your popcorn. That's all I can tell y'all. Bring your popcorn. I make people in wheelchairs stand up."

Let's chalk up that remark to youthful exuberance and hope he retires it.

▪ WBZ radio veteran Kim Tunnicliffe delivered this memory when she was let go by the station this past week: "I remember I was covering a Bill Belichick press conference at Gillette and all the veteran sports reporters were there. And my bosses wanted me to ask the really hard, direct questions. And I'm talking to some of the other sports reporters, the veteran ones, and they're going, 'Hell no, I'm not asking that. If you want to, go right ahead.' So I had to ask Bill Belichick how he got his black eye." (Belichick did not reveal how it happened.)

▪ Tickets for the general public for the Tom Brady Patriots Hall of Fame induction at Gillette Stadium June 12 start at $100.

▪ Red Sox Dumpster Dive Update: Stat guru Bill Chuck notes that, as of Friday morning, only seven players on the big league roster were originally signed by the Sox: Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers, Ceddanne Rafaela, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Chris Martin (via Rockies, Yankees, Rangers, Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers). Bobby Dalbec would be a seventh, but he was returned to Worcester after Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Giants.

▪ Here's The Athletic's Jim Trotter on the endorsement appeal of Caitlin Clark: "Clark's attractiveness to local companies and national corporations is heightened by the fact that she is a white woman who has dominated a sport that's viewed as predominantly Black; a straight woman who is joining a league with a sizable LGBTQ player population; and a person who comes from America's heartland, where residents often feel their beliefs and values are ignored or disrespected by the geographical edges of the country."

▪ Dumped by the Giants one last time during spring training, Pablo Sandoval, 37, is back playing with the Staten Island FerryHawks of the independent Atlantic League. The Hawks play home games at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park, which has a beautiful view of New York Harbor and the Lower Manhattan skyline.

The Panda, who last played in the bigs in 2021, went 3 for 16 with a homer and four RBIs in his first handful of games with the FerryHawks. He says he's down 50 pounds from his belt-busting Boston days.

▪ No doubt en route to the NL Cy Young Award, Chris Sale is 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA in six starts for the Braves. He beat the Mariners Thursday, allowing one run in five innings, walking none and striking out nine. Now imagine how great he'd be if he'd stuck around to work under Andrew Bailey. Sale's next start is Wednesday in Atlanta against the Red Sox.

▪ The Phoenix Suns have Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, and just got swept in the first round of the playoffs by Minnesota. Coach Frank Vogel probably will take the fall, but the blame starts with a front office that didn't see a need for a point guard.

▪ Can the 2024 White Sox be worse than the 1962 Mets? The Amazin's went 40-120 in their inaugural season, the standard for Worst Team Ever. The White Sox went into their weekend series with the Cardinals with a 6-25 record — a pace that would yield 31 victories.

▪ Rick Giolito and Lindsay Frost, the parents of Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, are both actors. Giolito's mom played attorney Samantha Pierce in Season 5 of "Frasier."

▪ Is it just me, or do any of you think Brad Marchand in 10 years will look like Claude Rains playing Captain Renault in "Casablanca"?

▪ Forget about the Knicks for a second. The Rangers have advanced to the second round vs. Carolina. The Blueshirts have not won the Stanley Cup since 1994.

▪ Follow-up to last week's mention of teammates who won both NCAA championships and NBA titles together: Add Gail Goodrich and Keith Erickson, who won at UCLA and with the 1971-72 Lakers (Erickson played 15 games with the LA champs).

▪ The Wall Street Journal delivered a fine piece Thursday on the dying breed of MLB switch-hitters. According to the Journal, a mere 9.5 percent of plate appearances this season had been taken by switch-hitters. That's down from nearly 20 percent in 1992. The ghost of Mickey Mantle weeps.

▪ The Journal also reports that Ethiopian native Buzunesh Deba, who finished second in the 2014 women's division of the Boston Marathon, is still waiting for the $100,000 prize money due her when it was learned in October of 2016 that the race-day winner, Rita Jeptoo, had been disqualified for doping.

Officials at the BAA said the cash is on hold because they're still trying to reclaim it from Jeptoo. When asked about the holdup, the BAA issued a "no comment" to the Journal. According to the Journal, the BAA's 2022 nonprofit tax filing listed net assets of $27.3 million.

▪ Refreshing to hear TNT's Stan Van Gundy calling out Jayson Tatum for nonstop complaining to officials. This makes Brother Stan the anti-Scal.

▪ Harvard's baseball team honored the late Joe O'Donnell between games of a doubleheader vs. Penn last weekend. An Everett native, O'Donnell captained Harvard's team in 1967 and supported the program for the rest of his days. Playing home games at O'Donnell Field, Harvard players are wearing "JOE" patches on their uniforms this season.

▪ Quiz answer: Paul Silas (1978-79 SuperSonics), Gerald Henderson (1989-90 Pistons), Robert Parish (1996-97 Bulls), Ray Allen (2012-13 Heat), Rajon Rondo (2019-20 Lakers).

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.