The Boston guard revealed after Monday’s 114-109 win over the Portland Trail Blazers that he’s been nursing an injury to his left (non-shooting) pinky finger since late December.
“I think since probably we played Portland last,” Pritchard said, referring to the Celtics’ road loss to the Blazers on Dec. 28. “So about a month or maybe a little longer than that.”
Pritchard tweaked the finger late in Monday’s game while competing for a rebound. His hand collided with Portland center Donovan Clingan, causing Pritchard to double over in pain and then exit toward the Celtics locker room.The sixth-year pro quickly returned to the bench, then checked back into the game with 41.5 seconds remaining. He was Boston’s leading scorer in the win, scoring 23 points on 8-of-19 shooting (5-of-11 from 3-point range), including two end-of-quarter buzzer-beaters.
The Celtics outscored the Blazers by 23 points over Pritchard’s 35 minutes.
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with it, jamming it back and forth. And then you just kind of hit it, and it goes sideways a little bit. But when you play basketball, you deal with finger injuries.”
The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year last season, Pritchard was elevated to the starting lineup following Jrue Holiday’s offseason trade to Portland. He’s started 45 of Boston’s 46 games to date, averaging 16.8 points (third-most on the team) and 5.3 assists (second-most) while boasting the NBA’s third-best assist-to-turnover ratio.
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