The Houston Rockets have listed star point guard Jeremy Lin as day-to-day with a bruised right chest muscle.
Lin, who played all 82 of the Rockets regular-season games this year (despite a series of ankle sprains), sustained the chest injury during the Rockets’ 105-102 game 2 playoff loss in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.
With less than a minute to go in the second half, Lin was trying to chase down a loose ball when he collided with Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha.
“It feels a lot better,” said Lin, who underwent an MRI on Thursday that didn’t reveal any damage beyond the bruise right chest muscle. “The worst part was the spasm-ing. That’s gone now. Now it’s just getting range of motion and getting pain free. I can’t shoot today. We tried to do the shooting motion just to get range of motion. Right now I have range of motion, but I don’t think I had any force.”
The Rockets host Game 3 on Saturday night down 2-0 in the Western Conference first-round series.
Although Lin is optimistic about his chances on suiting up for the game, the Harvard grad said he has learned not to make guarantees.
“I’m not going to make any promises or anything because I just don’t know,” he said. “Tomorrow we’re going to work on some more stuff. Today was all range of motion. Tomorrow will hopefully be some jumping. And we’ll go from there. See how it responds tomorrow. I really don’t know. This is something that should heal quickly. I’m not there yet. I don’t know when I will be. Hopefully, soon.”
Aaron Brooks would likely receive backup minutes at guard if Lin isn’t able to play.
Here is a video of Jeremy Lin’s collision with Thabo Sefolosha :
In his first season with the Rockets, Lin averaged 13.4 points, 6.1 assists, and 1.6 steals a game.
Over his three-year NBA career, Jeremy is averaging 11.5 points, 5.2 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per contest.
Via Houston Chron Image: BasketPapers