SAN FRANCISCO — Kristaps Porzingis made his Warriors debut Thursday night in a 121-110 home loss to the Boston Celtics that never felt close.
This was only Porzingis’ 18th game of the season and his first since Jan. 7, when he was with the Atlanta Hawks, nearly a month before his deadline trade to the Warriors.
Because of that, the Warriors slow-played his return, bringing Porzingis off the bench and limiting him to 17 minutes. Porzingis opened slow, missing his first two shots and struggling to keep up with a Celtics’ offensive avalanche.
Boston outscored the Warriors 38-19 in the second quarter and led by 32 when Porzingis re-entered the game late in the third quarter. Celtics star Jaylen Brown finished with 23 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists.
“Boston was incredible,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They’re having an amazing season. They’re a machine right now.”
But the Warriors did rally and briefly threatened to cut the Boston lead to single digits, in part due to a Porzingis surge. He hit two long 3s, had a pair of successful post-ups and finished with 12 points. The Warriors outscored the Celtics by 15 points with Porzingis on the floor in the second half after losing his minutes by 19 in the first half.
“He just looked more comfortable and settled in,” Kerr said.
Porzingis said he’d like to up his minutes limit “as quickly as possible.”
“Even tonight, I would’ve liked to go longer,” Porzingis said. “Even if I’m exhausted out there, I still want to push myself. But I know I have to take it step by step. Add a couple minutes next game hopefully.”
The Warriors face the Denver Nuggets on Sunday (12:30 p.m. PT, ABC). They will remain without Jimmy Butler, who tore his ACL and is done for the season, and Stephen Curry, whose persistent right knee issue will keep him sidelined at least four games.
Without their two best players, the reeling Warriors have dropped to 29-27 and need Porzingis to gain a rhythm and gear up rapidly for a needed offensive boost.
“I felt all right,” Porzingis said. “Far from being in perfect shape. But I think for first game back after a while, getting some energy back, I’m feeling good.”
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