KP Hopes to 'Recover at a Historic Rate' as He Works Through Calf Rehab

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1] [2]

BOSTON - Kristaps Porzingis revealed Saturday that his recovery time will likely be "week-to-week" after straining his right soleus during Game 4 of the first round. However, the Celtics big man is in good spirits as he goes through the early stages of rehab and hopes to "recover at a historic rate," so that he can return as soon as possible.

"It's something; it's not nothing," Porzingis bluntly stated of the nature of his injury. "So it will take a little bit of time, for sure. But I'm doing everything I can to speed it up because I want to be back out there as soon as possible. But also understanding the worst thing would be probably to re-aggravate that, so being smart about it."

Porzingis suffered the calf injury late in the second quarter of Boston's Game 4 win and believes it may have stemmed from tweaking his ankle on the previous possession.

"I rolled my ankle the play before on offense," he recalled. "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. Maybe just happened. And then yeah, as soon as I pushed off, I felt something. And you saw my reaction on the court."

Porzingis immediately limped off the court and threw a towel over his head in frustration. It was a difficult moment, as he had been looking forward to taking part in Boston's full playoff run ever since joining the team last summer.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's tough," he said. "First few moments were really tough. It gets you down for a second. But it is what it is. It's part of the sport and these things happen and the best I can do now, is I have to do to get healthy as soon as possible and follow the plan and make sure I do everything and just get in that mindset because I can't change what happened in the game. So just looking forward to making quick steps forward toward being back on the court."

There's a bit of a process that Porzingis has to go through before returning to the court, which he described after watching his teammates go through Saturday's practice.

"First you just control the inflammation and start to do some movements and stuff without stressing it too much," he said. "And today I had a pretty good day. Made some steps forward, started doing new stuff today. Tomorrow I'll be off, do some recovery stuff and then Monday I think, again, I will make a big jump."

Porzingis went through a similar rehab process earlier in the season. He strained his left calf during a November matchup with the Orlando Magic and missed the following four games over two weeks. However, he says this strain is a bit more serious than the first one.

"This one is stronger, a little bit worse for sure," he said.  "Just going to take a little bit longer but keeping a positive mindset."

Fortunately, part of Porzingis' recovery is taking place during a six-day break between Game 5 of the first round and Game 1 of the East semis, so he's not missing anything besides practice at the moment.

Boston will begin Round 2 Tuesday night against the winner of the Orlando/Cleveland series. By then, KP will be eight days into his recovery, and will likely need a bit more time to heal after that. But he will be aiming to return the court as quickly and safely as possible so that he can help complete the job that he came here to accomplish.