Sullinger (back) misses practice, ‘5050' vs. Magic

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Jared Sullinger left Wednesday night's game against the Kings due to back spasms after just over four minutes of play, and those same spasms kept him out of the team's practice on Thursday.

"Just what it is, spasms, and day-to-day," Doc Rivers said before practice. "Nothing I don't think bad, just spasms, which are bad, so"

Rivers also said there's a 5050 chance Sullinger suits up for Friday's game against the Magic.

Sullinger, who actually recently told trainer Ed Lacerte that his back had been feeling better, has dealt with back issues for quite some time, and his history with them led to him dropping all the way to the Celtics at pick No. 20 in the 2012 NBA Draft.

Are these the same back issues that prompted "red flags" to fly from a number of GM's offices?

"I don't know. I think they're probably all connected," Rivers said. "When you have a back injury, you have a back injury. It's not one thing, it's everything. So if you have back spasms I'm sure it's connected somehow to whatever his back problems were."

The Celtics knew there would be somewhat of a risk bringing on a guy with a history of back issues. The night the C's drafted Sullinger, Rivers noted how they'd keep a close eye on his situation:

"Obviously we're going to have to watch Sullinger's back and make sure he gets the right treatment all the time," Rivers said at the time. "But I played 13 years with a bad back, and I was OK and I think he will too.

"All of the doctors that we talked to, gave clearance. That's fine by us."

And while Sullinger missed Wednesday's game and could miss Friday's game, there's nothing that indicates he'll be out for long periods of time.

"No, I'm not that concerned," Rivers said Thursday. "Can he miss games, like I said yesterday, here and there? He may. But it's not anything career threatening or anything like that."

Sullinger has played a huge role for the Celtics, and was recently promoted to the starting lineup. His averages of 6.0 points and 5.9 rebounds don't justify the affect he's had on the C's. But don't expect the back spasms to be the start of a decline in production.

"My guess is he plays with back pain every day," Rivers said. "And I keep saying, because I had a back injury my whole career, and once you have a back injury, you have a back injury. I injured it in college, and you always have patches of it, it never goes away. You just have to play through pain for your career."

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