It had been 279 days since Kristaps Porziņģis last shared the floor with the Celtics, as either a teammate or an opponent. The final farewell was bitter.
Porziņģis last suited up alongside his former Boston teammates in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. A lingering illness that followed him out of the regular season stretched on for more than three months, reducing him to a limited version of himself. Fast forward 40 weeks and two trades later, and Porziņģis finally shared the floor with Boston again — this time as a member of the Warriors — facing the team he helped raise a banner with two years ago.
“It was definitely fun,” Payton Pritchard told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I was looking forward to it. It’s always fun playing against ex-teammates and going to battle with them.”
Golden State acquired Porziņģis before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, sending Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Hawks in exchange. Like his time in Boston, injuries limited Porziņģis’ impact in Atlanta. He played just 17 games due to left Achilles tendinitis, which also kept him out of a potential return to TD Garden on Jan. 28 against the Celtics. So instead, the reunion came in Porziņģis’ Golden State debut on Thursday night, with Boston coming away with a 121-110 win.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr played Porziņģis on limited minutes, giving him 17 off the bench.
In the second quarter, Porziņģis recorded his first basket in a Warriors uniform by flushing a two-handed dunk during a mismatch with Derrick White, which helped get him going. Nearly 12 minutes later, he attacked another mismatch, going after a rebound against Pritchard, who he towers over by more than a foot. The two wrestled back and forth for possession like brothers before smiling and setting up a lopsided jump ball between 6-foot-1 Pritchard and 7-foot-2 Porziņģis.
Porziņģis, unsurprisingly, came away with the win.
“I’m disappointed in myself for letting that go,” Pritchard told reporters. “Next time, I’m not doing that.”
It didn’t take much for Porziņģis to outmatch Pritchard, but trailing his old team by 33 points put a little extra pep in his step in that moment. Ripping the ball away from Pritchard quickly became the only thing that mattered, Porziņģis recalled.
“I was not going to let go of that ball,” he told reporters, per team-provided video. “We were down big, so I was already not in the best mood. But it was a cool moment with my old teammate, and that’s it. Just playful.”
The motivation of facing his former teammates paid off for Porziņģis. Slowly throughout the night, the same player who thrived in a Celtics uniform began doing everything that made him a fan favorite in Boston — now in Golden State: attacking mismatches, draining 3-pointers, including one from 30 feet, and remaining competitive during each play. It also helped that Porziņģis reunited with fellow 2024 Celtics champion Al Horford, who assisted him in his first Warriors basket.
Horford spent seven seasons with the Celtics across two stints, while Porziņģis lasted two years. Both veteran centers remain beloved in Boston, by fans and by those of the current Celtics alike.
“I played with those guys, against those guys, and I practiced with those guys for a long time,” Jaylen Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I always wish them well. I hope their families are doing good.”
Porziņģis scored 12 points in his first game since Jan. 7, part of an ongoing acclimation with a Warriors team in need of frontcourt assistance.
“I think this is a first step to keep building,” Porziņģis told reporters.
From afar, Porziņģis had been keeping tabs on the Celtics. Boston’s annual trip to Golden State gave him a first-hand look at the team’s retooled roster that lost much of its championship talent — including himself — yet has managed to excel as the No. 2 seed in the East, even without Jayson Tatum.
“You have to give credit to Joe and the coaching staff,” he told reporters. “Joe’s a great coach and a great leader. For this team to maintain the same culture — and probably be even hungrier with less talent — you have to give credit to that. And JB is playing at a super-high level, leading them. They’re a good team, even without JT and some of us who were there.”
Losing Porziņģis and Horford — their most-rotated centers last season — was just the start. Tatum’s Achilles injury in Game 4 against New York, combined with the need to rely on a mix of inexperienced and new players, put the Celtics in a tough spot from the jump. Yet judging by their 55-game sample size that has made Jayson Brown an MVP candidate, Joe Mazzulla a frontrunner for Coach of the Year, and Boston a legitimate contender for the No. 1 seed, it’s likely Porziņģis shares a sentiment similar to most across the league.
“I knew they were going to be good, and this is probably a little bit better than I expected,” Porziņģis told reporters. “So hats off to them.”