Speaking on Thursday to reporters, including Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link), Celtics guard Marcus Smart said there’s a good chance he’ll return for Saturday’s Game 3 against the Bucks.
“Strong likelihood I should be back for Game 3,” Smart said. “We’re just dealing with the last part of it getting that restriction of the knee and the joints so I’ll be able to bend it. Once that goes away, I should be back to myself.”
Smart missed Game 2 with a right thigh contusion, but he said it was close to his knee, leading to fluid buildup.
“I’m better than I was. Some of the swelling’s gone down…I did get beat up, but it’s part of the game. It’s just the quad, the fluid. Where I got hit was closer to the knee area, so a lot of the fluid went to the knee,” Smart said, adding that he was “a little sore” after testing it out today due to the fluid (Twitter thread courtesy of Weiss).
The 2022 Defensive Player of the Year had been grappling with the thigh injury ahead of Game 1 and it was aggravated during the contest after he got hit in the thigh a couple of times in short succession. The series is now tied at one game apiece after Boston blew out Milwaukee in Game 2.
After averaging 12.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 5.9 and 1.7 SPG on .418/.331/.793 shooting during 71 regular season games (32.3 MPG), Smart’s usage rate has increased in the playoffs (18.3% to 21.6%) and he has averaged 15.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 6.8 APG and 1.4 SPG on .397/.289/.786 shooting through five games. He was limited to 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting in Game 1, but hopefully the extra days of rest will help him be closer to full strength.
Saturday’s Game 3 in Milwaukee tips off at 2:30pm CT on ABC.
Celtics to GET SMART for game 3 !!
Nice to have a half a month off between games…