Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon has been playing through a partially torn tendon in his right arm in the Eastern Conference Finals, according to The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. The tendon comes out of his right elbow and leads into his forearm in his right shooting arm, and he suffered the injury during Game 1 of Boston’s series against the Miami Heat, in which the Celtics currently trail 3-1. He was reportedly initially dealing with golfer’s elbow soreness, but tore the tendon while boxing out Kevin Love.
Brogdon, who won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award during the regular season, has been playing through pain ever since. He has scored just two points in his past two games and is shooting 3-of-14 from deep in the series. To manage the pain, he has cut down his pregame warmup routine and has emphasized attacking the basket in recent games. Brogdon was one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA during the regular season, making 44.4% of his attempts.
The Celtics acquired Brogdon in the first place in part to address offensive shortcomings that arose during last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics often looked disorganized in the half-court and frequently turned the ball over unnecessarily. Brogdon, a seasoned point guard with a high basketball IQ, was supposed to help mitigate those problems. His injury has made it hard for him to impact games as he did in the regular season.
The Celtics still have Marcus Smart and Derrick White, but the latter has struggled when switch-hunted by Jimmy Butler, and the former can be a somewhat erratic offensive player. One loss will end Boston’s season, so a major injury like this is the last thing the Celtics needed.