Kristaps Porzingis was not going to let a head wound stop him from helping the Boston Celtics go two games up in their playoff series against the Orlando Magic.

The 29-year-old scored 20 points and registered 10 rebounds in the 109-100 win on Wednesday.

But he became a subject of attention after taking an elbow to the face from the Magic's Goga Bitadze.

"I love my WWE moments," said Porzingis, as quoted by ESPN.

"And then you know me. I always love engaging with the crowd. And I already knew, getting hit again, blood again, the crowd was going to go with it."

After taking the hit, Porzingis got back to his feet and made his way to the locker room with blood streaming down his face.

While the crowd got behind the Latvian, Bitadze was called for a flagrant foul after an official review.

Porzingis then emerged from the tunnel to shoot the free throws, patched up with a bandage and with dried blood on his nose.

"Honestly, how can I not come [back] out?" he said.

"Like, 'Oh, I have five stitches, I can't play anymore.' My legs work, everything works, so of course I'm going to be out there. And you know me. I like these moments. Coming back out again, getting a little love from the crowd.

"It just happens within the game and this is not going to stop me. So I'm going to keep going.

"We're not going to let anybody punk us. We expect teams to be doing this kind of stuff, to get in our heads, to try to provoke us, to try to maybe get some reaction out of us, some technical [foul] maybe, something.

"It's an emotional game, obviously, so we weren't surprised, but we're just not going to take it. So we're going to hit them right back."

Good night pic.twitter.com/hBxZaqEHRX
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 24, 2025

Porzingis' commitment and never-say-die attitude impressed Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who wants his players to continue to do whatever it takes to win.

"I like watching him bleed on the court. I think it's important, and then he comes back in and does his job. So I do like that about him," said Mazzulla.

"At the end of the day, he's willing to do whatever it takes for us to win. He didn't come in saying he had to get 36 and 10. He came in and said, 'I'm going to do whatever it takes to win.' And that's what he told me yesterday. That's just the mindset that he has."

For guard Payton Pritchard, meanwhile, he was unsurprised that of all players, Porzingis was the one getting involved in a tussle.

"He loves UFC, so I was like, this is perfect. It was fitting for him," he said.