In Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals, the Celtics held a pregame moment of silence in honor of their former player Bill Walton.

Then Kristaps Porzingis did his best impression of the late Hall of Famer.

After missing most of the playoffs with a calf strain, the Latvian big man came off the bench and scored 18 first-half points, evoking memories of Walton’s sixth-man role on the dominant 1986 Celtics team. Porzingis suffered another injury in Game 2 that knocked him out for the rest of the series, but left his mark.

He’s healthy now, though, and faces a very familiar opponent: the Knicks team that drafted him fourth overall in 2015. Porzingis at one point was seen as the Knicks’ would-be savior — until a very public fallout with then-Knicks president Phil Jackson led to tension with the franchise, resulting in a trade to Dallas in February 2019 while Porzingis was recovering from an ACL tear.

It’s eventually worked out for both sides. Porzingis may not be a superstar, but he’s a pivotal role player an elite team that has a good chance of winning back-to-back titles, while the Knicks have finally emerged from the wilderness thanks in large part to Jalen Brunson.