Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (calf strain) ‘expecting to recover at a historic rate’

There remains no specific timeline for Porzingis’s return, but he said it is more of a week-to-week injury than day-to-day. He has yet to resume even modest on-court workouts.

He missed two weeks with a calf strain in November and said he expects this absence to be “a little bit longer.” For now, his rehab has mostly consisted of rest and light exercises in the weight room.

“At first, it’s just to control the inflammation and start to do some movements and stuff without stressing it too much,” Porzingis said. “And today I had a pretty good day, made some steps forward, started doing new stuff. [Sunday] I’ll be off, do some recovery stuff, and then Monday I think, again, I will make, like, a big jump. Every day is a pretty big jump, so I expect Monday to be pretty good and go from there.”

The Celtics will play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday against the winner of Sunday’s Game 7 first-round matchup between the Magic and Cavaliers. Porzingis will miss Game 1, and it certainly sounded like he would likely miss the entire series, which will feature games every other night until the end.

The Eastern Conference finals could start as early as May 19, and there is clearly no guarantee that Porzingis would be ready by that point, either.

“It’s still pretty early,” Porzingis said. “I think it will be clear once I start doing more stuff. Once I start doing more stuff, it will be clearer. But, yeah, not super close yet. But expecting to recover at a historic rate.”

Porzingis turned his left ankle after stepping on the foot of Heat guard Tyler Herro late in the second quarter of Game 4. He said he may have been overcompensating for that mild injury when he suffered the right calf strain about a minute later while setting up a dribble handoff for Jaylen Brown along the left arc.

Porzingis immediately signaled to the bench before limping to the locker room and later leaving the Kaseya Center in a walking boot. He was buoyed by the news that it was not a more serious injury, but frustrated nonetheless.

Porzingis suffered a calf strain against the Magic on Nov. 24 and was sidelined for two weeks. He said that injury was mild, but the Celtics were extremely cautious because it was just the start of a long, winding regular season. If he had the same injury now, there would be more urgency. But he acknowledged Saturday that this strain is a bit more severe than the previous one.

“Worse, yeah,” he said. “I didn’t want to use that word, but just a little bit worse, for sure.”

Porzingis has soaked up every moment of his first season as a Celtic since being acquired from the Wizards in a trade last summer. He averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game and quickly emerged as a fan favorite for his value on the court and joyful demeanor off it. He waves to fans during games and slaps hands with them when they end, with a smile that seems impossible to erase.

The 28-year-old had never won a playoff series until the Celtics toppled the Heat in the first round, even if he was not there to help finish that job. Now, he will have to watch for at least a bit longer before getting a chance to resume his role in this championship pursuit.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s tough,” Porzingis said. “First few moments were really tough. It gets you down for a second. It’s part of the sport and these things happen, and the best I can do now is, ‘OK, what’s the next thing I have to do to get healthy as soon as possible and follow the plan and make sure I do everything?’ Just getting in that mind-set, because I can’t change what happened in the game.”

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.