Kristaps Porzingis flew to Indiana with the Celtics on Monday with no expectation of playing. He thought two days later during practice that if he could have, he would have tried. Instead, the player who was probably most looking forward to the league’s In-Season Tournament due to his foreign experience with similar competition watched a loss from the sidelines, falling short of his prospective return in Las Vegas.

“Everyone was upset and angry at ourselves for not finishing it.” Especially me. It pained not being able to help out there, especially knowing the vision we had,” Porzingis explained. “This is how it goes, and that’s all there is to it.” We will return.”

Porzingis (calf) is expected to return on Friday against his former Knicks, who also fell to the Knicks in the In-Season playoffs. He missed four games before returning to the field for the first time since suffering a minor strain against Orlando. Porzingis worked out fully before taking part in a full-court scrimmage against Neemias Queta, Celtics bench players, and coaches. He walked freely and hit shots both inside and outside while wearing a long black sleeve on his left calf.

The Celtics’ medical team will assess his reaction to Wednesday’s practice and determine a course for his return. Porzingis prefers to play without a minute restriction, but he’ll accept whatever the coaching staff thinks best for an issue he has stated necessitates caution. Porzingis had never dealt with this precise calf ailment before, and he wanted to play through it against the Magic at first, but both he and the coaching staff chose to play the long game.

“Jrue (Holiday) is fine. “He seemed to be fine during practice today,” Joe Mazzulla said. “K.P. went up and down a little bit today, we’ll see how he responds tomorrow, but he’s progressed really well and we expect him to be ready … he looked good out there today.”

Porzingis’ comeback comes at a critical time for the Celtics offense, which has dropped to ninth in offensive rating after nine games in which they gave the ball over, struggled to produce free throws, and shot less than 36% from three. Boston turned the ball over on 15.5% of their possessions during that time period, ranking 25th in the league, which Mazzulla attributed to poor decision-making in transition and playing five-on-five in the half court. After losing the turnover battle versus Indiana 18-6, the Celtics concentrated on reads and screening in practice on Wednesday.

Porzingis played alongside Svi Mykhailiuk, Dalano Banton, and big men coaches Amile Jefferson and DJ MacLeay against Oshae Brissett, Lamar Stevens, Phil Pressey, Jermaine Bucknor, and Queta after the practice was open to the media. Porzingis connected on all three triples he attempted, as well as a driving layup and a pair of post hooks over Queta.

“We have a lot of room to grow,” stated Porzingis. “That is one thing I am certain of. I believe we are all aware of this, which is why we are here working and improving. We have some very excellent moments, and then some moments where we can tidy up and really lock in, and we’ll get there. It’s early in the season, only 20 games in… we’re becoming better at maintaining consistency throughout the game. Of course, like any team, there are some slip-ups throughout the game… this isn’t just us, it’s always like that, but you strive for perfection, for a perfect game, everybody’s locked in for 48 minutes, no turnovers, make every shot… we’re already playing good basketball because of the talent that we have, but we believe we can achieve many levels (higher).”

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