Los Angeles Lakers small forward Nick Young (0) shoots over Brooklyn Nets power forward Mirza Teletovic (33) and small forward Paul Pierce (34) in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game at the Barclays Center, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Don’t let the smile fool you.
Nick Young showed elation over the Lakers’ 99-94 victory Wednesday over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Same thing with his 26 point-performance on 8 of 16 shooting. But Young admittedly expressed feeling pain after spraining a joint in his ring finger in his left hand. C-rays turned out negative. Should he play when the Lakers (8-8) play Friday in Detroit (6-9), Young will have to wear a splint on his finger.
“Now I can’t get married!” Young joked as Lakers trainer Gary Vitti applied tape on his finger in the locker room.
It all started when Young drove in for an unsuccessful layup with the game tied 92-92 with 1:42 remaining.
“The last play when I went to the hole, Paul Pierce smacked down my hand kind of hard,” Young said. “It bent some kind of way. I thought it was broken. I thought it was over. I’m going to try my best to play through it. I’ll see how i feel in the morning and go from there.”
It also partly explains why Young came out of the game with a minute remaining. Though he went only one of five from the field in the fourth quarter, Young made a flurry of plays that Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni described as “some huge shots to get us out of our funk.”
That included scoring the Lakers’ last eight points in the first quarter, Young also made stepback three-pointer as the shot clock expired to put the Lakers up 76-66 with 1:28 remaining in the third quarter.
“I feel good besides my finger,” Young said. “It was a tough win. We came into Brooklyn and did what we had to do. Everything is positive. It’s a good way to eat some Thanksgiving.”
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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com