Confirmed, from ESPN:
With his team facing elimination in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, a hurting Jamal Mashburn will play for the Hornets tonight, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein on Wednesday.
Mashburn, the Hornets' leading scorer during the regular season, injured his right middle finger in Game 2 against the 76ers.
New Orleans doctors stand by their original projection of 3-4 weeks before Mashburn could be ready, but, with the season on the line, Mashburn is going to tape up the finger and try to play tonight. The Hornets trail Philadelphia in the best-of-7 series 3-1.
Wearing nothing on his injured finger, Mashburn took shots at practice Tuesday for the first time in nearly a week.
After watching him shoot, teammates Baron Davis and David Wesley both predicted that Mashburn will play tonight.
"He's just showing a lot of courage as our leader by coming back, and I'm glad to see him toughen it out," Davis told The Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Tuesday. "I know he's really hurt. It's hard for him to grab the ball, let alone not having any feeling in his finger."
"My gut reaction is that he's going to play," Wesley told the newspaper.
Mashburn did not talk to reporters after his practice session on Tuesday.
