Kristaps Porzingis was benched for the second half of Wednesday's Game 5 win over the Knicks due to his lingering illness.

The Boston Celtics forced a Game 6 with a dominant win over the New York Knicks, but they had to do so without their starting big man for most of the game.

The Celtics had no easy fix to replace Jayson Tatum entering their do-or-die Game 5 matchup against the Knicks on Wednesday night. Joe Mazzulla began the game by reinserting Kristaps Porzingis into the starting five in place of Tatum despite the big man’s ineffective play for much of the series due to illness.

Porziņģis has battled an upper respiratory illness since the end of the regular season and has been ineffective for much of the postseason.

Once again, the Boston Celtics watched a second-half double-digit lead go to waste, falling to the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals by a 121-113 score. Boston now falls behind 3-1 in the series and is one loss away from being eliminated.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla provided a key Kristaps Porzingis update after the New York Knicks' Game 5 loss.

The Boston Celtics were deflated at the end of Game 4 of their playoff series against the New York Knicks. After a big lead slipped away from Boston, star wing Jayson Tatum went down with a devastating torn Achilles and will be out for the rest of this season and probably next season as well.

Is Joe Mazzulla hurting the Boston Celtics? FOX Sports' national radio personality Colin Cowherd didn't hold back in his critique of the Celtics' head coach following the team's Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks.