By Baxter Holmes, Globe Staff

Kevin Garnett suffered a hip injury during the Celtics’ 87-71 loss to the Knicks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday in New York, coach Doc Rivers said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Rivers said the injury is not serious and that Garnett should practice Thursday and play in Game 3 Friday at TD Garden.

Garnett has battled injuries lately, missing 10 of the final 13 games of the regular season with ankle inflammation, but the Celtics have also tried to rest him to prepare the 36-year-old for a postseason run.

Rivers said the injury Garnett suffered against the Knicks was “not the hip flexor, [but] a hip pointer.

“It was very similar to having a hip pointer in football, I guess,” Rivers said. “And it was affecting him. I was concerned that he had done something else, because where he was grabbing his hip, but I thought it was his stomach, where you pull a stomach muscle or something. That’s why, I think, in a couple timeouts, I kept asking him, was he OK. And he is, he’s good."

Garnett finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the loss, but he played just 24 minutes because of foul trouble. The Celtics had looked to involve Garnett more in the game after their Game 1 loss, but, obviously, that didn’t happen.