What Dave Portnoy told Knicks Mikal Bridges before Celtics must-win Game 5

Dave Portnoy is spilling the tea on his close encounter with a Celtics rival.During Wednesday’s installment of “The Unnamed Show,” the Barstool Sports founder revealed he crossed paths with Knicks forward Mikal Bridges in their shared Boston hotel, where he delivered an eyebrow-raising message to the former Net ahead of the Celtics’ must-win Game 5 on Wednesday night.“The Knicks in the fourth quarter of that last game were great,” Portnoy said of the team’s 121-113 Game 4 win on Monday at Madison Square Garden.“Those were not easy shots and they were hitting them all.[Jalen] Brunson was hitting them all, Mikal Bridges — I saw Mikal Bridges in the hotel this morning, I gave him a subtle, ‘Hey, don’t break your wrist.'”When co-host Ryan Whitney replied, “That’s what you said to the guy,” Portnoy, 48, responded that it was a “joke.”“He was kind of like a Barstool guy, he tapped me and I’m like, ‘Alright.’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, good to see you,'” Portnoy recalled.Portnoy has been locked into the second-round series as his beloved Celtics contend for their second straight championship.Those hopes of a repeat took a substantial hit Monday night when Jayson Tatum went down with a noncontact injury late in the fourth quarter and had to be helped off the court after a 42-point explosion.The Celtics’ worst fears were realized Tuesday when it was announced Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon.

He underwent successful surgery and there is no timetable for his return.“It’s no longer about wins and losses.It’s about basic humanity and the triumph of the human spirit,” Portnoy posted Tuesday on X following the devastating Tatum update.

“Tatum will be back.Until then nothing else matters.”The Knicks enter Wednesday’s game at TD Garden with a 3-1 series lead.Brunson, who has helped the team rally from double-digit deficits this series, scored 26 points in the second half of Game 4.Bridges, in his first season with...