Kristaps Porzingis took a lot of damage in the Celtics’ 109-100 win over the Magic, and his coach reacted a lot to the brand.
In the third quarter, Porzingis grabbed a hard elbow from Orlando's Goga Bitadze's face and immediately bleeded blood from his forehead.
Warning: The following image contains blood.
Kristaps Porzingis bleed from Goga Bitadze's elbow.
Bitadze was asked to make a blatant foul. pic.twitter.com/64nmkwesqz
– SportsCenter (@sportscenter) April 24, 2025
Bitadze was asked to make a loose foul, which later escalated to blatant 1.
Although Latvia's big man obviously suffered, he seemed to like it. He smiled in his ears as he left the court and was mended.
Kristaps Porzingis was born to play for the Boston Celtics.pic.twitter.com/rhqqhtmw5t
– 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏'𝒔 (@tatums0burner) April 24, 2025
He went back to the middle of his forehead and shot the free throw with a funny large bandaid.
Boston fans love it and praise it for “the moment when Christapps became the Boston Celtic.”
After the game, the center resolved the injury.
“Honestly, why can't I come back?” Porzingis told the media. “Like, 'Oh, I have five stitches, I can't play anymore.' No. My legs work, everything works, of course I'll be there.
“And you know me. I love these moments.”
His coach, Joe Mazzulla, was also pleased with the turn of the game. In true Mazzulla style, he is very interesting to the whole situation.
“I think [Porzingis] Mazzulla said: “Having the natural ability to make things very serious and also have a good perspective. You see how I think he can control his environment well, how he controls the crowd and how he handles the bodies of the people and maintains his balance. He just has a good way of doing him.”
“I like watching him bleed on the court. I think it's important. Then he went back to his job.”
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