NEW YORK — Luke Kornet’s stellar Game 5 earned the Celtics big man a promotion.
Boston moved Kornet into the starting lineup for Friday night’s must-win Game 6 against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He replaced Kristaps Porzingis, who’s been limited by symptoms from a lingering viral illness since the start of the series.
Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford rounded out the Celtics’ starting five, which lost Jayson Tatum to a season-ending ruptured Achilles in Game 4.
Kornet blocked a career-high seven shots in Wednesday’s victory at TD Garden, including five in the third quarter to help the Celtics turn a tie game at halftime into a 25-point romp. The 7-foot-2 center also had 10 points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal and was a plus-20 in 26 minutes.
Teammates used words like “huge,” “stellar” and “unbelievable” to describe Kornet’s Game 5 performance.
“He came in and just seemed to always be in the right position,” White said after that game. “Seven blocks is crazy. He was unbelievable tonight and really stepped up when we needed him. He’s had a great season and was big-time for us tonight.”
Friday’s game was the first postseason start of Kornet’s eight-year career. The 29-year-old started 16 games this season (73 total appearances) and posted some of the best advanced metrics of any NBA player, including top-10 rankings in net rating, effective field-goal percentage and true shooting percentage. Among Celtics players, only Payton Pritchard has posted a higher net rating than Kornet this postseason.
Porzingis sat out the second half of Game 5, with head coach Joe Mazzulla saying he “couldn’t breathe” and only would have reentered if the Celtics “absolutely needed him.” He was a minus-12 in his 12 first-half minutes, totaling one point, one rebound and two turnovers.
Mazzulla said before Game 6 that Porzingis “is playing” Friday night.
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