As Kristaps Porzingis stayed warm on an exercise bike – located next to the tunnel and surrounded by the crowd – a group of fans called for him. The Celtics big man, as he does seemingly every game whether he’s playing or not, reciprocated the love with a wave and smile.

Nothing has bothered Porzingis during his first season in Boston, even as he’s being held out of more games than he would like and treated more cautiously than he ever has. Porzingis, who has suffered a number of minor injuries this season, has missed 21 games. And while he would certainly like to play more, he gets it.

“(It’s) definitely more cautious here,” Porzingis said after he returned from a five-game absence in the Celtics’ win over the Pistons on Monday. “I could have played through more stuff, 100 percent. But I understand that there will be a time and place for me to play through stuff. Especially at this point in the season, we’re in a pretty good spot, and we know what’s the most important thing is, is the playoffs. And that’s what we need to be – healthy, fresh, and ready to leave everything out there.”

Porzingis has not suffered a serious injury this season but has picked up small knocks that have kept him sidelined. He missed four games in November due to a calf injury and at the time he said the Celtics were being extra cautious with a long season in mind. The five games he just missed due to a hamstring strain was his longest absence of the season, but it didn’t seem overly serious. He has missed other games here and there in an effort to preserve him.

The Celtics have expertly managed Porzingis – who has a lengthy injury history – knowing how critical he is to their championship hopes. It’s notable that he’s never experienced a deep playoff run, making it even more important for him to stay healthy and fresh in the meantime, especially as the Celtics nurse a huge lead in the standings. It’s a good bet Porzingis will take several more nights off between now and the end of the regular season.

Porzingis said he picked up his recent hamstring injury after the Nuggets loss in Denver two weeks ago. He didn’t think anything of it initially – thinking it was just some tightness – but when he was warming up the morning of their next game in Phoenix, he felt something and alerted the medical staff.

“And of course they were really cautious with it,” Porzingis said. “So we did some imaging and you could see something, but it was mostly out of caution, to be honest. If life or death or was playoffs I would have been completely fine. And we took a long time and got to work on everything, but especially my hamstrings. I feel good now and it was just a lot of caution, I would say.”

Porzingis returned Monday with a minutes restriction but had an unusual night. He played the first six minutes, then didn’t play the rest of the half. He stayed warm on the exercise bike as the first half closed, then returned to play 15 consecutive minutes to begin the second half. He said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla wanted to leave minutes available in the second half in case the game was close.

The Celtics will remain abundantly cautious with Porzingis for the next month, as they have all season. Porzingis said he hopes the minutes restriction will not continue, but soon enough when the playoffs begin, he will be rewarded for his patience.

“I want to be out there for more,” Porzingis said. “But I understand the most important (thing) is to get to the playoffs as fresh as possible, as strong as possible.”

A friendly wager

Payton Pritchard’s 3-pointer that earned Derrick White his 10th assists to complete his first triple-double in Monday’s win was also something of a favor. Pritchard and White made a bet on Saturday’s Pac-12 championship game between Oregon and Colorado, and Pritchard’s Ducks defeated White’s Buffaloes to earn the auto bid to the NCAA Tournament. So, Pritchard’s 3-pointer helped ease White’s pain a bit.

“That’s the least he could do for me,” White joked.

White wasn’t sweating his alma mater’s loss. Colorado earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as it was selected as a No. 10 seed in Wednesday’s play-in game against Boise State. Oregon is a No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 seed South Carolina on Thursday.

“There was a couple of dollars exchanged,” White said of the bet. “I was extremely confident going into that game. It was a good game, credit to Oregon, obviously, but like I said, we’re both in the tournament and I think we’re gonna make a run here so let’s go Buffs.”

Injury report

Jaylen Brown (right ankle sprain), Jrue Holiday (right AC joint sprain) and Sam Hauser (left ankle sprain) are all questionable for Wednesday’s matchup against the Bucks. It’s a positive sign for Hauser – who injured his ankle during his historic shooting performance in Sunday’s win over the Wizards – that his status was upgraded and it seems he avoided serious injury.