Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry is set to play in Sunday’s Game 1 against the Boston Celtics after previously being uncertain because of a sprained left ankle.
Coach Nick Nurse told reporters that he didn’t expect any limitations on Lowry in Sunday’s game.
“We’re going to have to see how it goes once we get out there for real, but I would say at this point, there is no limit,” Nurse said. “There may be a bit of something in the first half until he gets his conditioning, but I doubt it. It’s a playoff game. He’s been through a lot. He knows how to manage stuff pretty well. But we’ll see.”
The Raptors announced Sunday morning that Lowry, who has a sprained ankle but officially was upgraded to probable Saturday, would be available to play.
Lowry turned his ankle in the closing game of Toronto’s first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets on Aug. 23. He was dribbling up the court in the first quarter when he was cut off and stepped on the foot of Nets guard Chris Chiozza. He stayed in the game briefly before committing a foul and signaling to the bench that he needed to exit.
While the Raptors went 12-2 without Lowry during the season, they would like to have him at full strength for their conference semifinals matchup against the Celtics. Boston is the only team to defeat Toronto in Orlando since the NBA resumed play in the bubble — a 122-100 victory over the Raptors on Aug. 7.
Game 1 between Toronto and Boston will be at 1 p.m. ET (ESPN).
Information from ESPN’s Andrew Lopez was used in this report.