Kristaps Porzingis suffered a pretty gnarly injury in the Celtics’ 109-100 Game 2 win over the Magic, and his coach had a very on-brand reaction.
In the third quarter, Porzingis took a hard elbow to the face from Orlando’s Goga Bitadze and was spurting blood from his forehead instantly.
WARNING: The image below contains blood.
Kristaps Porzingis was bleeding from his head after an elbow from Goga Bitadze.
Bitadze was called for a flagrant 1 foul. pic.twitter.com/64nmKwESQZ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 24, 2025
Bitadze was called for a loose ball foul that was later upgraded to a Flagrant 1.
Although the Latvian big man was clearly hurt, he seemed to be loving it. He was smiling ear to ear as he left the court to get patched up.
Kristaps Porzingis was born to play for the Boston Celtics. pic.twitter.com/rHqQHtMW5t
— ƎƎƎƎƎƎƎƎƎᕦ🦻 (@Tatums0Burner) April 24, 2025
He returned to shoot his free throws with a hilariously large band aid stuck in the middle of his forehead.
Boston fans loved it and hailed it “the moment Kristaps became a Boston Celtic.”
The center addressed the injury after the game.
“Honestly, how could I not come back out? Like, ‘Oh, I have five stitches, I can’t play anymore.’ No. My legs work, everything works, and of course I’m going to be out there.
“And you know me. I like these moments.”
His coach, Joe Mazzulla, was also happy with the turn of events. In true Mazzulla style, he had a very interesting take on the whole situation.
“I think [Porzingis] has an innate ability to take things very seriously and at the same time, have great perspective,” Mazzulla said. “You see how I think he can control his environment really well with how he controls the crowd and how he handles the physicality of it, and he can maintain his poise. He just had a great way about him.
“I like watching him bleed on the court. I think that’s important. And then he comes back in and does his job.”
