Celtics celebrate Kristaps Porzingis’ return with dominant victory

BOSTON — In his first game since helping the Celtics win the NBA championship five months ago, Kristaps Porzingis picked up where he left off.

The 7-foot-3 center, making his season debut after undergoing offseason leg surgery, finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots in 23 minutes for Boston as the Celtics led by 29 points at halftime en route to a 126-94 victory over the LA Clippers at TD Garden on Monday night.

“I felt great,” Porzingis said with a smile. “It was a long rehab and I was itching to get back with this team after winning a championship. It was a good start, good first game back.”

It certainly was, as Boston jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, turning the final 24 minutes into an extended celebration of Porzingis’ return.

And in his first game in five months, Porzingis immediately provided the combination of floor spacing and rim protection that bolsters Boston’s effort on both ends.

In a sign of both Porzingis’ versatility and what life in today’s NBA is like, Porzingis — the tallest player on the court — took half of his shots from 3-point range, including from the top of the key on each of the first two possessions . After missing the first, he made the second – the only one he would make among six attempts.

Inside the arch, however, was a different story. Porzingis went 5-for-6 on 2-point shots — including a nice mid-range bucket over James Harden and throwing multiple lobs from teammates — though he joked that he got “flat tires” on both of them due to a combination of his timing and his conditioning.

“It’s part of the process,” Porzingis said. “Especially the first race back. A bit of timing on the jump, catching a flat tire here and there and stuff like that. That’s normal.”

But it was on the other end where Porzingis could potentially have an even bigger impact. Boston, which had the second-ranked defense last season, entered Monday ranked No. 10 this season with the 19th-ranked rim defense (after being first last season in that category).

On Monday, Porzingis was part of a Celtics defense that had a season-high 11 blocks — Boston hadn’t had more than nine in any game this season — and immediately became a deterrent, forcing the Clippers without Ivica Zubac (23 points and 10 rebounds) to go a combined 2-for-8 from the field.

“Yeah, 11 blocks tonight,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said with a broad smile when asked how Porzingis can change things for Boston defensively. “It helps.”

Porzingis had been building up to Monday’s return for weeks. He said he was on top of the rehab process at every step and was fine as recently as a month ago. Although the timeline for his return to action was originally slated for December or January, he practiced for the first time a week ago with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League team, and had undergone rigorous pregame workouts over the past week, which suggested his return could come sooner.

When Porzingis was upgraded to probable around noon Monday following Boston’s 107-105 win over Minnesota on Sunday night, he then returned to the starting lineup for Boston for the first time since suffering a calf strain in Game 4 of Boston’s first-round series. playoff series against the Miami Heat.

To begin this season, Boston hasn’t missed a beat without Porzingis, as the Celtics are on pace to surpass last season’s 64-18 regular season record and are averaging 50 3-point attempts — which would shatter the previous NBA record.

But that did not dampen the enthusiasm for his return. Porzingis received a massive ovation during pregame warmups from fans around the court, and then another when he was announced as the starter.

The 48 minutes of game action that followed then became a continued celebration of his return and the potential this group has to become the first Celtics team to repeat as NBA champions since 1969 — with Porzingis and his two-way versatility as a key component.

“It’s going to change night to night, and we’re a versatile team,” Jaylen Brown, one of six Celtics in double figures with 16 points, said of Boston’s many ways to play on both ends. “We have a lot of luxuries where different guys can do different things. The key is just staying motivated and having a great mentality.”