{"id":545596,"date":"2026-03-19T00:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545596\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:01:12","slug":"what-kristaps-porzingis-said-about-his-return-to-td-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545596\/","title":{"rendered":"What Kristaps Porzingis said about his return to TD Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“Basketball was pretty stressful here, I’m not going to lie. But, it comes with the territory.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tKristaps Porzingis AP Photo\/Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Derrick\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics\u2019 Derrick White shares beer with Jimmy Fallon, talks dental work on \u2018The Tonight Show\u2019\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTom Brady brought jokes, nostalgia, and a comeback tease to Jimmy Fallon ahead of flag football debut\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> has had an eventful eight months since the Celtics traded him back in July. <\/p>\n

He was traded again, this time to the Warriors after a brief stint with the Hawks. The move to Golden State reunited him with Al Horford, who left the Celtics during free agency. Warriors coach Steve Kerr recently refuted a report about Porzingis\u2019s medical status and wound up apologizing for his comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Porzingis returned<\/a> to TD Garden for the first time as a visiting player since leaving the Celtics. It felt both good and weird to be back in an opposing team\u2019s colors, he said. He said he misses exploring the city, playing at TD Garden, and dropping into some of his favorite local spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of small moments, even outside of basketball. Just being in the city, having my little spots to go for coffee, just overall, my life here in Boston I really enjoyed it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said San Francisco reminds him of Boston because of how compact and walkable the city is. The warm weather is also a plus, he said, along with playing for the Warriors. <\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball was pretty stressful here, I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d Porzingis said of Boston. \u201cBut, it comes with the territory. We wanted to win it all and we did it. I would say the whole package was just special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State is two games under .500 and fighting for a playoff spot. They\u2019ve been without Stephen Curry for weeks as the 36-year-old star manages a nagging knee injury.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new challenge in a new city for the 7-foot-2 inch center. He has been effective on the court when he\u2019s healthy, averaging 17.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 34.5 percent from 3-point range. But, he has missed all but 22 games. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an easy fit for sure with any team at that size with that kind of shooting touch,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a whole lot of strategy to get him to work with other players. He can set a screen and pop and that puts a lot of stress on a defense, just that alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously you\u2019d rather have someone from training camp and really be able to experiment. I think in the four or five games he\u2019s played we\u2019ve been able to notice the nuances, different actions we might run, that sort of thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Porzingis said he is healthy now. He has played in three of the Warriors\u2019 last four games. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting a real good feeling about basketball again, which is the most important thing,\u201d Porzingis said. \u201cEverything goes into second place when you\u2019re not feeling perfect. It\u2019s just natural to feel that way and now that I\u2019m getting my legs back, getting into shape, it\u2019s a good reminder why I love this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porzingis, who turns 31 in August, was asked whether he has given any thought to ending his career given his injury history. He missed 40 of the Celtics\u2019 82 regular-season games last season and he didn\u2019t look like his usual self during the playoffs while battling his illness. The NBA\u2019s requirement for postseason awards eligibility is 65 games played, a mark that Porzingis has hit just three times in his ten-year career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to put those kind of ideas in my head,\u201d Porzingis said. \u201cJust in general, for life, I don\u2019t want to be like 60 percent of my energy. I don\u2019t want to live this way. I\u2019ll find a way.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what I\u2019ll figure out a way to feel how I need to feel, at least close to where I was, and I did. I\u2019m recovering really well again and everything is back. I\u2019m finally starting to feel like myself again and I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porzingis said he isn\u2019t planning on crying during when the Celtics celebrate him on the jumbotron. But, things can get emotional when players return to the place where they won their first championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome good memories,\u201d Porzingis said. \u201cGood, good memories. Just thinking about it now I get a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “Basketball was pretty stressful here, I’m not going to lie. But, it comes with the territory.”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-545596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}