MILWAUKEE — Boston Celtics big man Aron Baynes said Monday that the left ankle he rolled in Sunday’s Game 1 is “sore, but it’s alright,” and said he does not expect to miss time due to the latest ailment.
Baynes, who missed 31 regular-season games due to a variety of injuries, rolled his left ankle after landing awkwardly and catching the side of teammate Gordon Hayward’s foot in the third quarter of Sunday's 112-90 triumph at Fiserv Forum. Despite being available to return, Baynes did not play again.
But he expects to be out there for Game 2.
“It’s frustrating as hell but it’s also unlucky as hell,” said Baynes. "I keep coming down on somebody’s foot. It’s not like I’m doing it on a dotted line or something. It’s the guy’s foot underneath me.
"So it’s unlucky. It’s one of those things, it’s bloody annoying but, at the end of the day, it’s not going to stop me.”
Baynes, who shifted to a reserve role for the start of the series after starting four games against Indiana in Round 1, played nine minutes before the injury. He logged some quality time against Giannis Antetokounmpo, and his presence is important as another big body that Boston can throw at the Greek Freak in this series.
How exactly did Boston bottle up Giannis in Game 1? By sending a lot of attention his way.
“I think the whole team was focused on it,” said Baynes. "There’s multiple times, we just watched it on film, everyone was just long and loaded and ready and you have to be with a player of his caliber. He’s so good at doing what he does and getting into the lane that we have to have a full team focus. It didn’t matter who was on the court, everyone was aware and that’s what we need to continue.”
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Baynes thinks the Celtics need to be even better against Antetokounmpo moving forward.
“We can still get a lot better as well,” said Baynes. "That’s another thing we just watched is how much we can still improve if we lock in on everything that we want to do within our game plan. Not only just on Giannis but on all the other players — [Khris] Middleton and [Eric] Bledsoe and all the guys that came in off the bench and made an impact on them yesterday. We can play a lot more solidly as a group and that’s what we’ll look to do.”
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