The Celtics celebrate the return of Kristaps Porzingis with a confident victory

BOSTON – In his first game since helping the Celtics win the NBA championship five months ago, Kristaps Porzingis picked up right where he left off.

The 7-foot-3 center, who made his season debut after undergoing offseason leg surgery, finished the game with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steals and 2 blocks in 23 minutes for Boston The Celtics led by 29 points at halftime en route to a 126-94 victory over the LA Clippers at TD Garden.

“I felt great,” Porzingis said afterwards with a smile. “It was a long rehab and I really wanted to get back with this team after winning a championship.”

“It was a good start, a good second leg.”

It certainly did, as Boston took an early lead and never looked back, making the final 24 minutes an extended celebration of Porzingis’ return.

And in his first game in five months, Porzingis immediately provided the combination of floor spacing and rim protection that enhanced Boston’s efforts on both ends of the court.

In a sign of Porzingis’ versatility and life in the NBA today, Porzingis – the tallest man on the court – took half of his shots from 3-point range, including from the top of the key on each of those first two possessions game. After missing the first, he managed the second – the only one he managed out of six attempts.

Inside the arch, however, a different story unfolded. Porzingis went 5-6 on 2-point shots – including a beautiful mid-post basket over James Harden and knocking down several lobs from teammates – although Porzingis joked that he missed both because of one “flat tire” on both balls “flat tire” was a combination of incorrect timing and regaining his fitness.

“It’s part of the process,” Porzingis said. “Especially the first game back. A bit of timing on the jump, a flat tire here and there and stuff like that. This is normal.”

But on the other end, Porzingis can potentially have an even bigger impact. Boston, the second-ranked defense last season, came into Monday’s game ranked 10th in defense with the 19th-ranked defense — after being first in that category last season.

On Monday, Porzingis was part of a Celtics defense that had a season-high 11 blocks – Boston hasn’t had more than nine in any game so far this season – and was an immediate deterrent as she joined Ivica Zubac (23) in forcing the Clippers to score points and 10 rebounds) to go a combined 2-for-8 from the floor.

“Yeah, 11 blocks tonight,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said with a broad smile when asked how Porzingis can transform the defense for Boston. “It helps.”

Porzingis had been preparing for Monday’s return for weeks. He said he was ahead of every step of the rehab process and was already feeling good a month ago. Although the Latvian’s return-to-court schedule was originally supposed to extend into December or January, he trained with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League team, for the first time a week ago and has been planning to train rigorously in the past the game week, suggesting his return could come even sooner.

The return turned out to be on Monday, as Porzingis was upgraded to probable around noon following Boston’s 107-105 win over Minnesota on Sunday night, then returned to the starting lineup for Boston for the first time since suffering a calf strain in the game 4 of Boston’s first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

Heading into this season, Boston hasn’t missed a beat without Porzingis, as the Celtics are on pace to surpass last season’s 64-18 regular season record and are averaging 50 3-point shot attempts per game – what the previous NBA would break record.

But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for his return, as when he began his pre-match warm-up about 50 minutes before kick-off, he received massive applause from the fans around the pitch, and then another when he returned as part of the The starting lineup was announced for the game.

The ensuing 48 minutes of play then became a sustained celebration of his return and this group’s potential to become the first Celtics team to become NBA champions again since 1969 – with Porzingis and his two-way versatility being a key part of that.

“It’s going to change from night to night, and we’re a diverse team,” Jaylen Brown, who was one of six Celtics with 16 points, said of Boston’s many different styles of play on both ends of the court. “We have a lot of luxury where different people can do different things. The key is just staying motivated and having a great mentality.”