Analysis: Kristaps Porzingis suffers rare foot injury, considered day-to-day

The Celtics announced on Tuesday afternoon that Kristaps Porzingis “suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg.” The team is listing him as day-to-day. 

According to Jeff Stotts, a certified trainer and owner of the injury tracking and analysis website InStreetClothes.com, “the medial retinaculum is connective tissue that serves as the roof of the tarsal tunnel (think carpal tunnel but in the foot). It anchors multiple structures in place, including the tendon of the posterior tibialis. If the retrinaculum is torn, tendon can shift out of place (dislocate), causing pain and instability of the ankle and foot.”

Porzingis says the injury happened “going for a rebound at the free throw line. Just kind of pushed in (Dereck) Lively's back and we bumped knees and something happened. I just kept playing for a while after that. Obviously towards the end, my movement was affected a bit.”

He came out of the game but re-entered in the fourth and played another 3:26 until another awkward fall later in the quarter. 

Porzingis was walking with a wrap on his ankle at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but without any sort of boot or additional aids. 

“It's kind of a random situation. I felt something, and now I have to deal with it,” Porzingis said, adding that he’s optimistic. “I don't know the specifics. But that's something I'll leave in the medical staff's hands to determine whether I can go or no. But from my side, as I said, nothing is going to stop me unless I'm told I'm not allowed to play. That's the only reason I would not be out there.

Joe Mazzulla said the team has taken the decision to play out of Porzingis’ hands. The determination will be made by the medical team. 

“He's doing anything and everything he can to be ready for the game tomorrow,” Mazzulla said. “It's a serious injury. At the end of the day, our team and the medical team is not going to put him in any bad situations.”

It’s unclear if playing will make it worse or if it puts him at risk for a more serious injury. The Celtics press release called the injury rare, and said the team consulted with numerous specialists. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “For now, there’s no indication he’ll be ruled out and not permitted to try in Game 3, sources said.”

This shows just how uncharted this territory is for Porzingis. At this point, playing is still possible.

Losing Porzingis would put Boston in a bit of a bind. One of the keys to this series has been his rim protection and floor spacing. Al Horford can pick up some of the slack on both ends, but he’s not posting up the way Porzingis has to take advantage of mismatches against guys like Kyrie Irving or Derrick Jones, Jr. Those 15-18 footers have been huge in triggering runs. 

He’s also been a big floor-spacing threat off the bench. If he’s out, then Luke Kornet could possibly come in, taking away that advantage for Boston. Kornet shifts Boston’s offensive spacing dramatically, putting him down low in the dunker spot where a big can stay with him and protect the rim. With someone like Daniel Gafford or Lively already at the rim, the Mavs will be able to sit on kick-out passes to the corner. Suddenly, the Mavs defense will be able to get back to some of the advantages they’ve enjoyed in past series.

That would put pressure on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to make a lot of mid-range shots. The style of scoring would change a lot in non-Porzingis minutes. Jump shots would become critically important, and it would draw Boston into giving up their math advantage behind the 3-point line. The games would get closer and clunkier. 

The Celtics could try responding by going smaller with Tatum at the five in those minutes. If they tried Kornet and it looked bad, they could just put Sam Hauser or Payton Pritchard in the game and shift Tatum to the center spot on offense. He’s guarded Dallas bigs in the series anyway, so it wouldn’t really be a stretch. 

Or they could skip the Kornet minutes altogether and just make Tatum at the five the adjustment. This could reshape Tatum’s role for half the game, but it would fall in line with Boston’s playoff mantra of doing whatever is necessary to win. 

The Celtics do have ways to win without Porzingis, but it would tilt some of the advantages they’ve enjoyed back Dallas’ way. This doesn’t suddenly make the Mavericks the favorites. It just makes things tougher … if Porzingis does actually miss time.

“I'll see how I am tomorrow," Porzingis said. "I'm going to do everything I can to be out there tomorrow, and we'll see.”