The Celtics will try to shut out the Heat without Kristaps Porzingis on Wednesday.
The team announced Tuesday that Porzingis will miss Game 5 due to a strained right soleus muscle.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Porzingis is “expected to miss at least a few games” with a leg injury.
Porzingis suffered the non-contact injury during the Celtics’ 102-88 win over the Heat in Miami on Monday.
On this play, Porzingis dribbled the ball to the 3-point line, but was guarded by Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
When Porzingis tried to make the cut, he stood up limp and immediately looked irritated.
He headed to the locker room with a towel over his face and missed the rest of the game.
The severity of Porzingis’ calf injury is unknown.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was diagnosed with a left soleus muscle strain three weeks ago and has yet to return to action.
The Celtics hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series against the Heat.
If Boston advances to the second round, it will face the winner of the Cavaliers-Magic series.
Even without Porzingis, the Celtics are favored by 13.5 points in Game 5.
The Celtics are the heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference at -245 odds on DraftKings, and +125 to win the NBA Championship.
Porzingis appeared in 57 games last season, averaging 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
His career has been plagued by injuries.
He suffered a torn ACL as a member of the Knicks, missing the final two months of the 2017-18 season and all of 2018-19.
He has missed 25 or more games in six of the past seven seasons.
