Celtics

“I didn’t even know it was for me at first walking out, hearing that crowd roar and getting real excitement to start the game and give everything to these fans that came.”

Kristaps Porzingis received a thunderous round of applause as he returned to TD Garden for his first game back after sitting out more than a month with a calf strain.

The 7-foot-2 center said the crowd reaction helped pump him up.

“It was insane. I’m not going to lie,” Porzingis said. “Just walking in the tunnel was like a WWE style walk-in. I didn’t even know it was for me at first walking out, hearing that crowd roar and getting real excitement to start the game and give everything to these fans that came.”

It didn’t take long for Porzingis to make his mark on the game. He scored 20 points on 8-13 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench.

“Obviously as I said postgame, it was like a relief,” Porzingis said. “Being back on the court, healthy, winning games, starting off the series the right way. It was definitely a relief. But yeah, it’s like a lot more work to be done and yeah, tomorrow we get another chance on our home floor.”

Porzingis said his performance surpassed his own expectations. Now, with one game under his belt, he said having two more days of rest between Games 1 and 2 has been helpful.

“It’s huge, obviously, but yeah, to be honest, the way I moved, looking back now
at the game, and I don’t think I even expected myself to be able to be moving so well,” Porzingis said. “That was, again, a good sign for myself and now having two days in between and preparing my body again, getting even probably better conditioning now for next game will be huge.”

The first three rounds of this postseason did not go according to Porzingis’s plans, but he’s doing all he can to impact this series.

“Yeah, good, like, how do you say, description of a little bit,” Porzingis said. “Especially preparing myself all regular season for the playoffs and round one, something unfortunate happens and staying mentally put and staying in the right place to have the chance to come back later in the playoffs.

“Of course I wanted to come back earlier but it didn’t work out that way. But here I am now and healthy and able to put on a good game for my first game back.”