Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon has not looked like himself during the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.
And it seems that might be in part due to an injury Brogdon is playing through.
The Athletic’s Jared Weiss reported late Wednesday night that Brogdon suffered a partial tear in the tendon from his right elbow to forearm in Game 1. According to Weiss, who cited sources, Brogdon was already dealing with golfer’s elbow soreness and the injury got worse when trying to box out Heat forward Kevin Love. An MRI after the series opener revealed the extent of the damage, per Weiss.
Brogdon popped up on the injury report prior to Game 2 with forearm tightness and started wearing a black sleeve on his shooting arm despite not wearing it in Game 4. The outside shooting from the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year has taken a nose-dive in the conference finals. After shooting 44.4% from 3-point range in the regular season, Brogdon is shooting just 21.4% (3-for-14) from beyond the arc against the Heat.
In the last two games, Brogdon has struggled mightily, making just one of 11 shots attempts while playing his least amount of minutes in the postseason.
“(Brogdon) has struggled with pain and swelling in his arm and wrist, which has limited his ability to shoot comfortably in this series,” Weiss wrote.
Brogdon also has “curtailed his pregame warmup” due to the the pain he feels when he shoots, but he has no plans of sitting out with the Celtics’ season on the line as they look to stave of elimination once again in Game 5 on Thursday night at TD Garden.
Weiss added that Brogdon will “evaluate” after the season if his injury will require surgery.
