The 2025 NBA Playoffs have brought the drama, this has been a wildly entertaining postseason. That said, injuries are playing a massive role in the second round. What follows are some notes from around the league and with some key injuries.
Karl-Anthony Towns injures hand
In the second quarter against Boston on Saturday, Karl-Anthony Towns and Luke Kornett were battling for a rebound around the basket, which Towns got and threw the outlet. Then Towns instantly grabbed his left hand in pain and appeared to say, “I broke it.” Towns could be seen wincing at other points in the second half, clearly bothered by whatever happened.
After the game, Towns and coach Tom Thibodeau played it down.
“It is what it is," Towns said. "I just want to do whatever I can to be out there. It is what it is. I’m gonna keep finding ways to play, so I ain’t tripping.”
Towns finished with 21 points on 5-of-18 shooting, and pulled down 15 rebounds. New York will need him in a critical Game 4. The Knicks had dramatic comeback wins in the first two games of the series, but in Game 3 the Celtics' 3-pointers fell and they seemed to get their identity and rhythm back. New York needs the Game 4 win or this series is tied and the momentum is going the other way, and it will need a big game from Towns to get that win.
It would also help if the Knicks could not fall behind by 20 points in Game 4.
Stephen Curry return
Unsurprisingly, the Golden State Warriors' offense has fallen apart in the last two games without Stephen Curry. The Warriors failed to score 100 points in either Game 2 or 3, and their offensive rating in both games would have been the worst in the NBA over the course of the regular season.
When can Curry return? Expect Game 6. Curry will be re-evaluated on the day of Game 5, but most likely, the earliest he will return is the following game, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. That lines up with what was reported here and by injury experts in the wake of Curry's Grade 1 hamstring strain, that it would be more like 10 days before he got back on the court.
The only question: Will that be too late? Warriors coach Steve Kerr said his team's defense will be the key to his team winning games without Curry, and Golden State did a good job of mucking up Game 3, but they still need to score enough to win and without Curry that is an issue (despite the best efforts of Jimmy Butler III and Buddy Hield).
Kristaps Porzingis health
Through three games in this series, Kristaps Porzingis is averaging just a little more than 15 minutes a night, scoring 4.3 points a game while shooting 25% overall (and 33.3% on 3-pointers). He had to leave Game 1 early because of the illness impacting him, and it's not just this round, Porzingis struggled in the first round as well.
Porzingis' illness is believed to be a flare-up of a condition he battled back in March that caused him to miss a few games. Doctors couldn't exactly determine what it Porzingis had or what was going on. ESPN’s Shams Charania had more details on their broadcast.
"It’s led to him having energy zaps and stamina ebbs and flows over the last couple of months... and he’s tried a lot of different things to try to mitigate the side effects. I’m told he’s been receiving IVs, immune boosters. He’s even changed up his sleep patterns to try to get more rest. He’s essentially waking up every day, hoping and praying that he feels better."
If the Celtics are going to repeat as champions, they will need him to find his health and form again. Boston won a ring last year with Porzingis out for several games in the NBA Finals, that will not happen this year.
Tatum said he was not trying to prove anything
The Boston Celtics have taken a lot of criticism for their poor shooting and blown leads in the first two games of the series against the resiliant Knicks, and a lot of that fell on the shoulders of their best player, Jayson Tatum.
Things felt different in Game 3, when Tatum finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and was a plus-23 in a game where the Celtics cruised to a win. That led some to speculate Tatum heard the criticism and responded, but after the game Tatum said that wasn't the case. He gave a thoughtful answer about accepting that there will be criticism when you are in the position he is in.
"I wasn't trying to prove anything today to anybody. It was an important game. It was important for us to respond as a team and just wanted to come out here and win. And that's all that was really on my mind."
