Kristaps Porzingis bloody head, explained: Celtics star shakes off scary injury after nasty collision vs. Magic

The Celtics are without Jayson Tatum (wrist) for Game 2 of their first-round series against the Magic, but stars Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis picked up the slack. However, in the third quarter of the game, there was a scary moment where it looked like they might lose Porzingis after a nasty collision with Orlando's Goga Bitadze. 

Kristaps Porziņģis took a NASTY blow to the head 😳 pic.twitter.com/4qqhcXrBO8

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 24, 2025

Porzingis came away from the collision with a gnarly cut going down the center of his forehead. After he stayed down on the court, fans could see the blood on his head start to run into his blonde hair. Porzingis was helped up and made his way back to the locker room to get cleaned up and a bandage. On his way, the forward started laughing at the situation, which pumped up the hometown crowd. 

Kristaps is okay 😂 pic.twitter.com/wLnpazwixL

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 24, 2025

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Here is more on Porzingis' head injury. 

Kristaps Porzingis bloody head, explained

There are a few different ways that you can become a legend among your fan base. The most common is completely taking over a game or being directly responsible for the team's success from a big performance. The other is being faced with adversity and overcoming it in a memorable way. For Porzingis, it was the latter.

Ultimately, the cut on Porzingis' head after running into Bitadze's elbow looked worse than it was, and the Celtics forward laughed it off with blood streaming down his face and the crowd roaring.

Kristaps is okay 😂 pic.twitter.com/wLnpazwixL

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 24, 2025

Unfortunately for Porzingis, his tough-guy moment was abruptly cut short. There's not a great bandage for forehead injuries that is malleable enough to stay attached with a player moving and sweating. The one that Bostono trainers initially chose for Porzingis stood out for the wrong reasons.

"He lost his horn!" The Unicorn, Kristaps Porzingis, is back with a bandage after taking the elbow to the head pic.twitter.com/nB1NOrO3EP

— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) April 24, 2025

Still, even with the goofy bandage on his forehead, the crowd got behind him and cheered him as he attempted his free throws. Bitadze was charged with a Flagrant 1, and Porzingis hit both shots from the charity stripe before disappearing back into the locker room to have his wound attended to even more.