Kristaps Porzingis reveals key adjustment that led to Game 4 turnaround

ORLANDO — The Celtics entered Game 4 badly needing Kristaps Porzingis to emerge from his offensive slumber. The seven-footer shot just 28 percent from the field in the first three games of the series, and misfired on his first 10 3-point attempts. With Boston’s bench also struggling to produce, the Celtics’ offense suddenly lacked firepower, with one of their usual reliable weapons struggling.

Orlando’s switching defense had failed to produce plenty of perimeter looks for the big man early in the series, and Porzingis was not thriving in the post against Orlando’s physicality. However, a simple adjustment paved the way for Porzingis to get back on track offensively in Game 4 according to the center.

“To be honest, just rolling more,” Porzingis said after scoring 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. “We kept playing – I kept playing – a little bit more how I’m used to in the regular season, but I needed to make some adjustments.”

Orlando’s switching defense is valuable in preventing open 3-point looks, but it’s hard to stop a seven-footer rolling when giving up a big size mismatch. Porzingis took advantage of this shift early, getting three easy dunks in the first quarter with the simple tweak.

“D-White found me. Just being a bit more towards the rim because they weren’t really – even though I haven’t shot the ball good in this series, they don’t really give up anything from the three. They’re closing out really hard, so, gotta make an adjustment.”

Porzingis ended up being limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble but his productive offensive minutes were a big difference maker in a game where points were difficult to come by.

“I thought he was great tonight,” Mazzulla said. “I thought he set the tone for us in our half-court offense with his screening and his rolling, and just his ability to make 2-on-1s better for us. And we managed it the way we managed it. He did a great job when he was in.”

With Porzingis getting more comfortable attacking in the interior and Boston’s stars doing a better job at drawing contract (32 free throw attempts), the Celtics are slowly but surely finding cracks in Orlando’s defensive gameplay.

“Just looking at the film. Just looking at the film, I had some opportunities in the third game, which I kind of popped up and we didn’t really get anything and the spacing was not good,” Porzingis said. “So just looked at some opportunities there and a bit more movement, a bit more movement, a bit more fluidity. They already try to make the game real muddy – is that a word? Muddy? – and so we just need to combat that. And I think I did a better job today.”

Porzingis and the Celtics will try to build on that momentum and close out the series on Tuesday night back at TD Garden.

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