Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart will miss Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday due to swelling in his sprained right ankle, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
It’s a huge blow for the Celtics, who are trying to even the series after losing Game 3 at home. Smart also missed Game 1 of the series, then played heavy minutes in Games 2 and 3.
He racked up 24 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds and three steals in Boston’s 127-102 Game 2 victory while playing 40 minutes. He fouled out after 37 minutes in Game 3 while posting 16 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four turnovers in 37 minutes.
Center Robert Williams, who missed Game 3 with knee soreness, is listed as available to play by the team, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith will likely get increased court time in Smart’s absence. White will take Smart’s place in the starting lineup.
As reported earlier, Heat sixth man Tyler Herro is out with a groin injury. Jimmy Butler (right knee inflammation), Kyle Lowry (left hamstring strain), Max Strus (right hamstring strain), P.J. Tucker (left knee irritation) and Gabe Vincent (left hamstring strain) all intend to play after being listed as questionable.
Ouchies
Damn. I had thought that was probable after what happened in the previous game, but we hadnt heard much about it, so it seemed he somehow was able to avoid it. As I said previously, a lot of times, you can play through stuff, and it effects you later, but when he initially couldn’t get up, I thought that was a bad sign, and was then surprised he was able to come back out there. Hopefully he is ok, but this is a blow, especially if they still dont use certain other guys
Jimmy is showin Out today …….
You think?
I’m not a fan of either team. But I do want Heat to win. I want to see a competitive gm. But this is the NBA helping the Celtics. Yes their D is great. Yes they came out to play. But they have gotten ghost calls. They reach and smack arm and it’s not called. They hand check more than any team. And it’s not called. No doubt Celts are winning and playing better. So why help them ??
Why doesn’t he play Yurtseven ….. Why
Don’t be a hater. This is identical to gm 3 . Roles are reversed. Yes. If I was a Heat fan I would’ve been irate, especially on the 2 calls the Cs got on super late whistles. The officiating has been all over the place.
You had to know that it was gonna be a romp though Cs weren’t gonna turn it over 24 times and Tatum was score more than 10. Heat had everything go their way in game 3 and won by 6 . Time Lord . Wow. His presence (and the Heat not looking like the Showtime Lakers) anyway it’s one day of the pundits drooling over the Cs until they lay an egg on Wednesday
I don’t hate anything. What’s the point, really. Calls were weak. And Celts didn’t need the help. Best refs are when we don’t even know they are there. Celts put a beat down for sure. Bothers me teams get hurt in playoffs, to be honest. Rooting for Heat. But it doesn’t look good now. Celtics are a healthier team. They deserve this win. Big team win imo.