INDIANAPOLISâ€"
This is too big of a game for Danny Granger to take a night off.The Indiana Pacers forward said after Thursday morning's shoot around that he will play in Game 6 despite a sprained left ankle.
"This game is so important," Granger said. "That's pretty much it. I'm playing."
Pacers coach Frank Vogel said Granger will start and play "normal" minutes, as long as Granger doesn't show signs of being limited despite being "very sore."
Until spraining his ankle in the second quarter of Indiana's Game 5 loss, Granger had played more than 37 minutes in the other games this series. He played just 20 on Tuesday night.
Granger will be taped and use an ankle brace, and has taken "every kind of anti-inflammatory I've ever heard." Whether he's given an anti-pain shot before the game will be determined by his pain level, he said.
"There's not much you can do," he said. "The only time I really had to rest was yesterday. We just have to go with it."
If Granger isn't having trouble with his mobility, Vogel will keep him on the court as long as he can. If Granger is struggling with his lateral movement and mobility, however, Vogel said he won't hesitate to bench Granger.
Granger's ankle was about the size of a baseball, he said, but the swelling hasn't been an issue.
"I'm a notorious sweller anyways," Granger said. "If something happens to me I swell up pretty bad.
"I have to play. Regular season is a different story. You play 82 games and you don't have to worry about that one game you miss or the two, but with an elimination game, our backs are against the wall. I have to play."
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