Center Kristaps Porzingis celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer against Bulls center Nikola Vucevic during the Celtics’ 122-100 win on Wednesday in Boston. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

BOSTON — The Celtics righted the ship on Wednesday night with a dominant win over the undermanned Bulls. After a sluggish offensive first quarter, Boston erupted for 42 points in the second quarter, led by Kristaps Porzingis, and cruised to a 122-100 win over Chicago. offensive explosion largely came via big man Kristaps Porzingis.

The Celtics center matched his previous season-high with 26 points in the first half, going 8 of 11 from the field and 6 of 8 from 3-point range in 18 first-half minutes. Porzingis finished with a game-high 34 points, tying his career-high with eight made 3s.

There were a host of questions entering the year about how Porzingis would look like after offseason surgery on a rare leg injury. He returned ahead of schedule and looks like the player who pushed Boston’s offense to new heights last year. He might even be better.

He’s arguably been the most consistent player in the Celtics lineup in January despite up-and-down play from his teammates. The veteran has scored 17 points or more in 11 straight games while shooting above 51 percent from the field and 3-point range this month.

“It’s night and day,” Porzingis said. “I just know I have to stay on top of this. I have to enjoy these moments. These are those moments where you get on a few games, feel good, rhythm’s good, shot’s falling. I’m enjoying it.”

His 3-point shooting has improved dramatically this season. After shooting a subpar 33 percent from 3-point range in December, Porzingis is up to 51.3 percent in January. That red-hot play has pushed him up to a career high 3-point shooting percentage of 42.1 percent through 23 games, up from 37.5 percent last year.

“He’s just been great on both ends of the floor,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Wednesday night. “I think obviously offensively, he handles a lot of different cross matches, and he’s gotten so much better at that. It’s great to see him kind of have a game like he did tonight, and for us to have a well-balanced game as well.”

The sensational output and consistency have also come in Porzingis’ first healthy stretch of the year. He hasn’t missed a game with injury in January, only sitting out on the first or second night of back-to-backs.

The Celtics in an ideal situation with Porzingis for both the present and the future. His elite offense has sparked the Celtics in a time when the starting backcourt is in a shooting slump. Boston’s starting five has started to play better with Porzingis consistenly in the lineup and playing well.

The implications for the future are also big for Porzingis. He will enter next season with an expiring contract just as brutal luxury tax repeater penalties come into play for Boston. Whether the team is able to retain their core remains to be seen at that price (incoming ownership will determine that) but it’s clear that Porzingis is looking like a good value at $29 million rather than a potential injury liability.

Keeping Porzingis healthy and at his best will be a challenge for the Celtics. However, his late start to the season lightened this workload and the odds of him making bigger impact than he did last postseason looks better every day.