Ray Allen admits he has bone spurs in troublesome ankle

Ray Allen has missed 13 games with a sore ankle and now his availability for the playoffs starting this weekend is coming into question.

Allen admitted Monday that he is battling bone spurs in his ankle, which is adding to the problem, reports A. Sherrod Blakely at CSNNE.com.

“The other day when it swelled,” Allen said, “they say they could be the size of a grain of sand but they’re not supposed to be in there so as they swell, they move around and as the swelling goes down, they rest.”

Bone spurs are small, pointed outgrowths of bone that occur where there has been a lot of wear and tear on a body. Say, hypothetically, the ankles of a veteran professional basketball player.

If the inflammation goes down Allen could get back on the court, maybe as early as Thursday in the Celtics final regular season game. Allen will not play Tuesday.

The Celtics will take on the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs, starting this weekend. The schedule of games has not yet been set by the league, in part because home court between the two teams is not decided. While the Celtics are the four seed by virtue of winning the Atlantic division, that does not guarantee them home court. Currently the Hawks have a one game lead over the Celtics.