BAH GOD!! THAT'S KRISTAPS PORZINGIS MUSIC!!!

I'm sorry….WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I had to check this tweet 5 times to make sure I wasn't getting trolled. As always, anytime a tweet from Shams starts "Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis", my brain is training to expect the worst. But then my eyes kept reading and my brain started to interpret what was said and holy shit. He's back???? Already?????????

Now, there were signs that we were getting close to a Porzingis return

but generally, it felt like we were all under the same impression when it came to KP's return. Take your time. When you think he's ready, wait even longer. The team is 14-3 without him, there's no need to rush anything.

So you can understand the shock that came with that Shams tweet. I think most of us were thinking mid December at the earliest, and while the reports from the team seemed to be trending in the right direction that he may be ready earlier, we've all done this dance enough to know to take everything injury related with a grain of salt.

But as it turns out, it wasn't bullshit? He's ready to go? In terms of the decision, if he's ready then he's ready, and with no Al Horford in the lineup because it's a B2B, I can understand why they chose this game. KP will have 4 days off after this before the Celts play again on Friday, and why not have the debut be at home so KP can feed off that energy? Plus, it gives him some reps before the rematch on the road in CLE on December 1st.

As a reminder, this is the player the Celtics are getting back

There's a reason Jayson Tatum calls him a cheat code, because he is. The Celts are title contenders without KP, but with him in the mix, they go to a whole different level that so far, no team has shown the ability to match. For a team that desperately needs improvement in their rim protection, KP helps solve that. For a team that has shown a knack for going on 5 minute scoring droughts because their 3s aren't dropping, KP helps solve that. With him on the floor, defenses cannot switch, and if you can't switch against this team, you're dead. 

Surviving non-Tatum minutes? Well that just got a whole lot easier now that Joe can go back to pairing JB/KP together, which proved to be one of the most unstoppable duos in the league. 

In terms of what to expect, it's impossible to know. KP missed 30 days in the playoffs and then came back in Game 1 of the Finals and looked incredible. Normally you'd think there'd be some rust, but KP is so used to missing time to injury he sort of just slides back into his dominant self. Obviously the conditioning won't be there, but that doesn't mean he can't be a weapon. Play him 15ish minutes and let him get his legs under him or something, and I trust Joe will be smart here.

Is there a risk bringing him back? I guess it depends. I can't imagine the team would do anything stupid when they are in this spot and there's really no need to do it. This tells me KP has probably been ready for a few weeks now and him being active today is them being cautious. I'll forever be nervous when he's on the floor and every time he jumps/lands, but there is no denying his two way impact when he plays and how badly the Celts need his skillset at the moment.

Hand up, I thought we'd be getting that Shams tweet on Christmas, and here it is a month earlier. We truly are blessed.