Al Horford admits that finger injury bothered him down the stretch

Al Horford left Sunday's Game 1 early in the fourth quarter due to a dislocated pinky finger. He suffered the injury while battling for a rebound with Brooklyn's Brook Lopez. Horford was quickly met by head trainer Wally Blase and then quickly ushered to the back.

Horford eventually returned to the game but with the pinky on his shooting hand heavily taped. He went scoreless for the remainder of the game and admitted afterwards that the injury bothered him.

"It definitely affected me," said Horford of the injury. "Having it taped like that around my finger, especially on my shooting hand, was very uncomfortable to shoot the ball."

Horford finished the game with 10 points and 10 rebounds on 5-12 shooting in 34 minutes. He spent most of his night wrestling with the Nets' Brook Lopez. He missed both of his shot attempts in the fourth quarter after returning to the game.

A dislocated finger can be a painful injury and the effects are likely to linger for sometime. Horford however left no doubt about his status for Game 2.

"I'm going to play obviously."

Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday and that will allow a couple of days for Horford to heal and to get comfortable shooting with the finger taped.

"I don't know. I've had something similar to this, not as bad as this. But we'll see. The good thing is that the x-rays came back negative."