Kristaps Porzingis has been made available to play Monday night for the second straight potential clinching-game for the Celtics.
The veteran big man, who did not play in the team's 122-84 blowout loss in Game 4, is not expected to be on any sort of minutes restriction in Game 5.
"He's available. Expecting to see him tonight," C's coach Joe Mazzulla said of Porzingis' status.
Porzingis has been limited for a good stretch of the NBA Finals after suffering a "rare leg injury" during the third quarter of Game 2 in Boston. He was ruled out for Game 3 in the Celtics' victory at American Airlines Center, but was upgraded from day-to-day to available under "specific instances" for Game 4.
While Porzingis didn't see any minutes in last Friday's loss, it appears the extra time off did the seven-footer some good, despite being a setback after missing 10 games in a five-week span throughout the postseason with a soleus strain in his right calf.
This time around the injury sustained is in Porzingis' left leg and it's effecting his ankle after coming off such a great return with a 20-point performance in Game 1 over a week ago.
On Sunday, Celtics forward Xavier Tillman, who's been getting increased playing time in Porzingis' absence, spoke about his teammate fighting through painful workouts in preparing to possibly play.
"It's a rare leg injury, so if he's in excruciating pain and can't be himself it might not be worth it," Tillman said of Porzingis in Sunday's post-practice presser. "When we go through our practices, he's doing some stuff but you can tell he’s very uncomfortable."
The Celtics will look to closeout the Dallas Mavericks tonight in Game 5 at TD Garden, as ABC has the tip-off at 8:30 pm ET.
Joel Pavón
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