Witty, self-deprecating, and playful, Luke Kornet plays the role of cult hero for Celtics Nation. With Boston’s season on the line and Jayson Tatum out of commission, Kornet was an actual hero in a win that reminded us Celtic Pride is more than just a pithy bromide.
The far-from-reserved reserve center channeled his inner Hakeem Olajuwon, turning back seven shots as the Celtics preserved their season and extended both this series and era of Boston basketball to another game with a 127-102 victory over the Knicks on Wednesday night at TD Garden.
Kornet is the comic relief for the Celtics. But the way Kornet played was no laughing matter for the Knicks, who now see the pendulum of pressure swing their way. With all the implications for the Celtics and all the possible permutations of play in Game 5, it’s doubtful anyone had The Luke Kornet Game on their basketball bingo card.
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The affable big man/team hype man gave the Celtics a big lift with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and a career-high 7 blocks on a night that Kristaps Porzingis, dealing with a mysterious respiratory illness, couldn’t catch his breath to play in the second half, and the Celtics, down 3-1 in this second-round series, were faced with zero breathing room.
“This is the type of game that’s like a legacy game. I feel like people will remember this,” said Celtics elder statesman Al Horford. “It’s inspirational to us, to our crowd, and if there is one guy that deserves this kind of attention and praise it’s him.
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“All year, he has been consistent and solid for us. Then to come through in a moment where we needed him the most is just very special, and it inspires me.”
Left for dead, the Celtics were a team in need of both inspiration and unlikely heroes with Tatum hors de hoops because of the ruptured Achilles’ tendon he suffered in Game 4.
Tatum is done, but the season is not. The Kornet Effect, evident in Game 5, is part of the reason why.
Celtics fans tend to fall in love with and venerate role players. Sometimes the Parishioners of the Parquet make these guys out to be more relevant than they really are.
However, Kornet deserved every ounce of adulation and every “Luuuke” chant. They weren’t only warranted. They were mandatory.
During one third-quarter sequence with the Celtics up, 72-68, Kornet raced out and contested Josh Hart at the 3-point line and then recovered to help Jrue Holiday by blocking Karl-Anthony Towns from behind to prevent a sure layup.
It was a defensive work of art worthy of the MFA.
Hart drawing Kornet should’ve been a mismatch the Knicks capitalized on, but he got bottled up by Kornet like a jar of preserves, his shots jammed in his face. In the fourth quarter, Kornet swooped in like a condor to block a Hart three and then let out a primal scream.
He came down the other end and reverse slammed an alley-oop from Jaylen Brown, who conducted the Celtics’ offense with symphonic precision to the tune of 26 points and a career-high 12 assists.
“Luke was huge tonight, defensively and offensively,” said Brown. “He was stellar, and that’s the type of performance we need in the playoffs.”
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This was indeed The Luke Kornet Game with his fingerprints all over it as the anchor of the Celtics’ defense, which limited the Knicks to 29.4 percent shooting in the second half and just 17 points in the pivotal third quarter, when the Celtics broke away.
“I’m very grateful just to be able to have the opportunity to play and obviously to make a big impact,” said Kornet. “And I feel like, honestly, just the connection that we had as a team and with all the teammates and in the situation that we’re in, I feel like it’s just really special to be a part of.
”Yeah, it was obviously a lot of fun to have the night that was [Wednesday] night.”
The Celtics’ net rating with Kornet on the floor was a gaudy 43.1 points per 100 possessions, the best of anyone on Wednesday night. He registered a plus-20.
It’s easy to just look at Kornet as a locker room mood lightener and the NBA version of a court jester with his mock campaign mocking Derrick White for the Tommy Award and smart-aleck quips. But he has been a valued contributor for the Celtics the last two seasons.
He has jokes, but he’s no joke.
“He proved it. He has been proving it all year . . . This was a statement game for him,” said Horford.
The Celtics are going to need Kornet going forward if Porzingis remains compromised. He wasn’t able to play a single second in the second half. Coach Joe Mazzulla said Porzingis was having issues breathing.
In the 12 minutes KP did play in the first half, he was a minus-12.
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The Celtics’ bench brigade is known as the “Stay Ready Group.” Payton Pritchard may be the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, but it’s Kornet who embodies the stay-ready ethos.
“I have to go out and do it again, and it’ll require different things on Friday, but just kind of keep that same mentality and just do whatever it takes,” he said.
The odds are as long as the 7-foot-1-inch Kornet that the Celtics can bring this season back from the brink of extinction.
The other two clubs that faced 3-1 deficits in the second round, the Cavaliers and Warriors, signed off for the season. That means that in NBA playoff history 282 of the 295 teams to go down, 3-1, have met their eventual demise, 95.6 percent.
The climb out from a 3-1 hole is so daunting it requires a sherpa, but the Celtics have dominated the run of play in this series with and without Tatum, building double-digit leads in every game.
Their gutsy victory shifted the pressure back to the Knicks. The agita will be as omnipresent at MSG as the celebrities in Game 6 on Friday.
Never say never.
If Kornet can play like Kevin Garnett Lite for a night, then in the words of KG, “Anything is possible.”
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.