The Boston Celtics are facing off against the New York Knicks in the second round of the NBA playoffs, and the team has already been hit with two injuries.
Initially, big man Kristaps Porzingis exited the game with an undisclosed injury, leading to Al Horford taking over. Next, Sam Hauser would come in, only to also exit due to an apparent leg injury.
Hauser was tangled up with OG Anunoby, and the result was him having to hobble off the court. Though this Celtics roster is deep, losing two players in the matter of one game is certainly tough to deal with.
The Celtics also revealed that Hauser is now questionable to return.
Porzingis was struggling before he exited due to an undisclosed illness. Through 13 minutes of action, he scored no points, and went 0-for-4 on field goal attempts.
Porzingis was being fed the ball plenty, but he simply could not get anything going in terms of scoring. The telecast confirmed that he is questionable to return and brought up his having missed eight games earlier this season due to what was being classified as an "upper respiratory illness."
That is not to say that Porzingis is suffering from the same illness, but whatever ailment he has now is affecting his performance in the game.
Hauser had only been in for two minutes and went 0-for-2 on field goal attempts before he had to head to the locker room with what the Celtics deemed as an ankle injury.
Both Hauser and Porzingis are both questionable to return. At the time of this writing, the Celtics are barely edging the Knicks in Game 1 heading into the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Celtics came out swinging and had a staggering 16-point lead heading into the half. However, the Knicks have come back in a big way.
The loss of Porzingis might be affecting the Celtics in a bigger way than they had expected. Horford came in, but their defense needs to tighten up so they can walk away with a 1-0 lead in the second round.
