It could have been a bad day for ligaments on both ends of the floor after the Boston Celtics’ 109-98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Down Joel Embiid to torn finger ligaments sustained against the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week, the 76ers’ had to lean on players like Mike Scott to soak up the Kansas product’s minutes.
Towards the end of the second quarter, Scott had a collision with Boston’s Kemba Walker that sent the Bronx native to the locker room.
The incident kept the UConn product out until the start of the third frame as they assessed the damage to Walker’s left thumb after the incident.
There was concern the former Husky might have ligament damage as well, but x-rays came back negative, and Walker was available to start the penultimate quarter after wrapping his thumb.
Left thumb sprain is the diagnosis on Kemba Walker. He will play in the second half.
Celtics are 20-0 this year when leading by more than 10.
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) January 10, 2020
“When he first went down we were worried about ligaments,” head coach Brad Stevens explained post-game (via MassLive’s John Karalis).
“He got X-rays at halftime. Nothing there. They said it was a thumb sprain,” he added. “He’ll go for more tests and everything else … but, right now, in a lot of ways, feels like we dodged a bullet.”
Walker had a hard hit the night before as a controversial screen sparked an incident that would see the two-time Sportsmanship Award-winner ejected for the first time in his career.
Despite the hits, Walker isn’t worried.
“It’s fine, just jammed it,” he said after the contest. “It was taped up pretty good. So it’s fine.”
Boston may indeed have dodged a bullet, as they are in the midst of a three-game losing streak during a very busy part of their schedule.
Even when they were winning without Walker in the lineup due to illness, the games were closer than they should have been, the team having grown accustomed to the 29-year-old veteran setting the tone early for the team.
[lawrence-related id=27349,27324,27306]