Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon reportedly has been playing through a partially torn tendon in his right arm in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.
“Malcolm Brogdon has been playing through a partial tear in the tendon coming out of his right elbow that leads into his forearm, team sources told The Athletic,” The Athletic’s Jared Weiss wrote.
According to Weiss, Brogdon suffered the injury in Game 1 against Miami, but he had been dealing with an elbow issue prior to that as well.
“The Celtics guard was initially dealing with golfer’s elbow soreness during the second-round series against Philadelphia, but an MRI after Game 1 against the Heat determined he exacerbated the injury by tearing the tendon in boxing out Miami Heat big Kevin Love midway through the first quarter,” Weiss wrote.
After starting the playoffs strong in the first two rounds, Brogdon has really taken a step back shooting the ball in the Eastern Conference Finals, and it appears this injury could be the reason why.
Through four games against the Heat, Brogdon has shot just 12-for-34 from the field and 3-for-14 from beyond the arc. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, he shot 44.6 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Clearly, this series has been a struggle for the 30-year-old, who was scoreless in Game 3 in Miami and shot just 1-for-5 in Game 4. He’s only had four games all postseason in which he’s failed to score double digits, but two of them have come in the last two games.
Despite the injury, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year intends to continue playing in the Eastern Conference Finals.
“Brogdon, 30, intends to continue playing through the injury as the Celtics attempt to come back from an 0-3 deficit after winning Game 4 116-99 on Tuesday,” Weiss wrote. “He is expected to evaluate whether he will need surgery after the season, according to team sources.”
While Brogdon brings more to the table than just scoring for the Celtics, it’s a huge blow for them that he is less effective shooting the ball due to the injury.
Boston is at home for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals as the team looks to send the series back to Miami. The Heat won the first two games of the series in Boston to take a 2-0 lead.
No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs. Now, Boston’s path to making history is even tougher with Brogdon clearly at less than 100 percent.
It will be interesting to see how the Celtics guard responds in Game 5 on Thursday night.
