Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is expected to miss a minimum of several games with a right soleus strain suffered in Game 4, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday.
The Celtics said the star big man will be out for Wednesday’s Game 5 in Boston because of the injury but did not offer a timetable beyond that.
The soleus (calf) strain is the same injury that has kept Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo out this postseason.
Porzingis suffered the injury in the first half of Monday’s Game 4 win in Miami. He appeared to tweak something after catching a pass from Jaylen Brown late in the second quarter. Upon getting the ball, he started driving toward his left, then grimaced before quickly giving the ball back to Brown and coming up lame in the middle of the play.
Porzingis didn’t appear to be touched by anyone on the play in which he was hurt. Following the game, he slowly walked out of the visiting locker room area wearing a gray walking boot on his right foot.
He was set to undergo imaging Tuesday.
Acquired last offseason, Porzingis averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists during the regular season, helping Boston to a league-best 64-18 record and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
The Celtics are up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and can close out the Heat at TD Garden on Wednesday.
Information from ESPN’s Chris Herring was used in this report.