Kristaps Porzingis returned and led the Celtics in scoring in his first game back from illness, and they finished their two-game road trip with a second straight victory, beating the Nets 115-113.
Here are the takeaways.
Kristaps Porzingis looked like himself.
The best possible outcome from Kristaps Porzingis’s eight-game absence — which was really more like a 10 game absence, given how clearly unhealthy he was when the Celtics took on the Pistons — was that he would return and look like himself, given that the playoffs are approaching.
After all, eight games off for Porzingis means roughly 240 fewer regular-season minutes in which he could rest before the games that really matter, and the Celtics are well positioned to make a run even though he has played in just 33 of their 68 games to date.