C.J. Watson frustrated with sore elbow

After the Pacers broke it down at center court Saturday to conclude practice, as they customarily do, 13 of the 14 players spread out among the three hoops at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to shoot free throws.

C.J. Watson did not.

Instead, the Pacers’ backup point guard came to the end of the team bench and plumped down at the end next to the Gatorade cooler. With his chin resting inside his left palm, he looked on as his teammates practiced their free throws.

Watson sat quietly after practice, frustrated that he can’t be out there due to an injury.

That’s what he should have been doing, and that’s where he wanted to be. He wanted to be off the bench and on the floor, doing whatever he could to help them string together wins and give them a chance for the franchise’s fifth straight playoff berth.

But, for the last three games, he’s been limited to sitting down — there, at the team bench.

“Just frustrated that I can’t play,” he said after practice when I asked why the long face.

Watson’s right elbow — his shooting elbow — has flared up, again. Not only is there pain, but it has swelled up and makes shooting and passing accurately very difficult.

This isn’t the first time this injury has bothered him. It, in part, kept him out most of March and for 17 games in total last spring, during the same time the team’s sluggish finish was in its early stages.

In New York during the middle of this past week, Watson was evaluated by Dan Dyrek, the team’s Physical Therapist Consultant who’s based in Boston but typically meets up with the team every other week.

Because he’s not showing signs of improvement, they are going to try different medicines to get the swelling and pressure down, but for now he’s being kept off the floor. Watson has done cardio and lifted weights, but for the last week-plus, he’s been away from basketball activities.

And with just three games over four days left, it’s looking likely that he could be done for the season — unless the Pacers are able to win all three regular-season games and either Boston or Brooklyn lose two games, allowing the Pacers to slip into the postseason.

Watson’s in the second year of a two-year deal — for about $2 million per — so he will be a free agent come July. When he’s been out there, he’s averaged 10 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game, and shot 40 percent from beyond the arc.