Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis returns to play for Game 5 of NBA Finals against Mavericks

BOSTON (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis returned for the Boston Celtics just in time to help them win an NBA championship.

The 7-foot-2 Latvian came back on Monday night after missing the previous two games, scoring five points with one rebound in 16 minutes to help the Celtics beat the Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 and win their 18th NBA title.

“I gave everything I could. I gave everything I could,” he said. “And, man, it feels great to be a champion.”

Porzingis missed Game 3 with a dislocated tendon in his left ankle. He was cleared to play a limited role in Game 4, but never took off his warmups during Boston’s 122-84 loss in Dallas.

He had been listed as questionable Monday morning before going through an on-court workout about 2 1/2 hours before tipoff. The workout included shooting, some light-contact post work and lateral movement drills.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters before Monday's game that Porzingis would be available and said, “We expect to see him tonight." Porzingis drew a big cheer when he got off the Boston bench to check into the game with 6:49 left in the first quarter.

He missed his first shot, a 3-point attempt, then made one of two free throws. He added a pair of baskets, including a fourth-quarter dunk that gave Boston a 21-point lead — and finished 2 for 4 from the floor.

“Tonight was the night,” he said. “I was like, ‘Listen, I’m going to give it everything I have.’ And I’m just super happy to be a part of this and give something to the team.”

The Celtics have said that his tendon issue is unrelated to the calf strain Porzingis sustained April 29 in the first round against Miami that led to him missing 10 games.

“It was something torn. And then my tendon is just out of place. And it pretty much hurts on every step. Like, I would take a walk in Dallas, and my leg would swell up,” he said. "I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to play, if I’m going to play. But my mindset was always, I’m going to try to find a way how I can manage this.

“And somehow I got it going for this game. A lot of it was for sure like the adrenaline from just playing at the Garden and playing in front of our fans and having that opportunity to close it out. And, man, I got it going.”

Porzingis averaged 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in his first six games this postseason, including 20 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots in Game 1 against Dallas.

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Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, right, is fouled by Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Green (8) during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) shoots at the basket as Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) defends during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Dallas Mavericks' Kyrie Irving (11) attempts a 3-point basket over Boston Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis (8) during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Basketball Finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) defends as Dallas Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr. (55) looks to shoot at the basket during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) looks to shoot at the basket as Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II, left, defends during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis sprays champagne while celebrating after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 to win the NBA basketball finals Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (Elsa/Pool Photo via AP)

Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) dunk in front of Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) and forward P.J. Washington (25) during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals, Monday, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

LONDON (AP) — Dutiful, managerial, a bit dull — Keir Starmer is no one’s idea of a firebrand politician.

The Labour Party hopes that is just what Britain wants and needs after 14 turbulent years of Conservative rule. Starmer, the center-left party’s 61-year-old leader, is the current favorite to win the country’s July 4 election.

Starmer has spent four years as opposition leader dragging his social democratic party from the left towards the political middle ground. His message to voters is that a Labour government will bring change — of the reassuring rather than scary kind.

“A vote for Labour is a vote for stability — economic and political,” Starmer said after Prime Minister Rishi Sunakcalled the election on May 22.

If opinion polls giving Labour a consistent double-digit lead are borne out on election day, Starmer will become Britain's first Labour prime minister since 2010.

A lawyer who served as chief prosecutor for England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, Starmer is caricatured by opponents as a “lefty London lawyer.” He was knighted for his role leading the Crown Prosecution Service, and Conservative opponents like to use his title, Sir Keir Starmer, to paint him as elite and out of touch.

Starmer prefers to stress his everyman credentials and humble roots — in implicit contrast to Sunak, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker married to the daughter of a billionaire.

He loves soccer — still plays the sport on weekends — and enjoys nothing more than watching Premier League team Arsenal over a beer in his local pub. He and his wife Victoria, who works in occupational health, have two teenage children they strive to keep out of the public eye.

Born in 1963, Starmer is the son of a toolmaker and a nurse who named him after Keir Hardie, the Labour Party’s first leader. One of four children, he was raised in a cash-strapped household in a small town outside London.

“There were hard times,” he said in a speech launching his campaign. “I know what out of control inflation feels like, how the rising cost-of-living can make you scared of the postman coming down the path: ‘Will he bring another bill we can’t afford?’

“We used to choose the phone bill because when it got cut off, it was always the easiest to do without.”

Starmer’s mother suffered from a chronic illness, Still’s disease, that left her in pain, and Starmer has said that visiting her in the hospital and helping to care for her helped form his strong support for the state-funded National Health Service.

He was the first member of his family to go to college, studying law at Leeds University and Oxford, and practiced human rights law before being appointed chief prosecutor.

He entered politics in his 50s and was elected to Parliament in 2015. He often disagreed with party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a staunch socialist, at one point quitting the party’s top team over disagreements, but agreed to serve as Labour’s Brexit spokesman under Corbyn.

Starmer has faced repeated questions about that decision, and about urging voters to support Corbyn during the 2019 election.

He said he wanted to stay and fight to change Labour, arguing that “leaders are temporary, but political parties are permanent.”

After Corbyn led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019 — the latter the party’s worst result since 1935 — Labour picked Starmer to lead efforts to rebuild.

His leadership has coincided with a turbulent period that saw Britain go through the COVID-19 pandemic, leave the EU, absorb the economic shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and endure economic turmoil from Liz Truss’s turbulent 49-day term as prime minister in 2022.

Voters are weary from a cost-of-living crisis, a wave of public sector strikes and political turmoil that saw the Conservative Party dispatch two prime ministers within weeks in 2022 — Boris Johnson and Truss — before installing Sunak to try to steady the ship.

Starmer imposed discipline on a party with a well-earned reputation for internal division, ditched some of Corbyn’s more overtly socialist policies and apologized for antisemitism that an internal investigation concluded had been allowed to spread under Corbyn.

Starmer promised “a culture change in the Labour Party.” His mantra is now “country before party.”

Starmer was a strong opponent of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, though now says a Labour government would not seek to reverse it.

Critics say that shows a lack of political principle. Supporters say it’s pragmatic and respects the fact that British voters have little desire to revisit the divisive Brexit debate.

Now Starmer must persuade voters that a Labour government can ease Britain’s chronic housing crisis and repair its fraying public services, especially the creaking health service — but without imposing tax increases or deepening the public debt.

To the dismay of some Labour supporters, he watered down a pledge to spend billions investing in green technology, saying a Labour government would not borrow more to fund public spending.

“A lot of people on the left will accuse him of letting them down, betraying socialist principles. And a lot of people on the right accuse him of flip-flopping,” said Tim Bale, political scientist at Queen Mary University of London.

“But, hey, if that’s what it takes to win, then I think that tells you something about Starmer’s character. He will do whatever it takes -- and has done whatever it takes -- to get into government.”

The party has surged in the polls under his leadership, which has helped keep Starmer's internal critics onside.

At the party’s conference in October he showed a flash of passion, telling cheering delegates: “I grew up working class. I’ve been fighting all my life. And I won’t stop now.” He also showed remarkable composure when a protester rushed onstage and showered Starmer with glitter and glue.

Some have likened this election to 1997, when Tony Blair led Labour to a landslide victory after 18 years of Conservative rule.

Bale says Starmer lacks Blair’s charisma. But, he said, “given the turmoil that Brits have had to endure since the Brexit referendum in 2016, a bit of boring wouldn’t go down that badly, I think, with the public.”

Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this story.

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is welcomed by BBC Director-General Tim Davie for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer arrives for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, left, take part for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer takes part for the BBC's Prime Ministerial Debate, in Nottingham, England, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Phil Noble/Pool via AP)