NBA Playoffs: Celtics C Kristaps Porziņģ out “several games” with calf strain

If the Boston Celtics want to finish off the Miami Heat on Wednesday, they will have to be without Kristaps Porziņģis.

The Celtics' starting center is out for Game 5 with a right soleus strain and is expected to miss “multiple games” due to the injury ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The soleus is a muscle in the calf.

The game is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Boston (TNT). The Celtics currently lead 3-1.

Porziņģis suffered the injury in Game 4 on Monday, exiting in the second quarter and never returning in a 102-88 win. After Porziņģis made an action on the outside edge, he came up lame and immediately signaled to be taken out of the game.

This was preceded by another play in which Porziņģis appeared to tweak his leg and began to limp.

The good news for the Celtics is that Porziņģis does not appear to have suffered a hamstring injury, which some feared after he left the Heat's Kaseya Center in a walking boot. He underwent imaging on Tuesday and it remains unclear how much time he will miss after Game 5.

The Celtics can get some peace of mind with a win on Wednesday. The owners of the NBA's best regular-season record looked dominant in their first-round series against a Miami team missing Jimmy Butler, save for a loss in Game 2 in which the Heat made a franchise-record 23 3-pointers. throws scored.

Porziņģis, who often battles Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo, had an up-and-down streak before the injury. In the Celtics' victories in Games 1 and 3, he scored 18 points on a total of 12 of 21 shooting, but in Game 2 he was 1 of 9 with six points.

The Celtics acquired Porziņģis in a trade with the Washington Wizards last offseason and had one of the best regular season seasons of his career. He was a key factor in the Celtics getting the No. 1 overall pick, and they can only wonder when he will be ready to return, assuming they take care of business against the Heat this week.