Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart is continuing to make positive progress as he works his way back from a partially torn oblique.
Smart suffered the injury during the Celtics’ regular season finale against the Orlando Magic, and initially was given a four-to-six week timeline for his return to the court. This won’t surprise Celtics fans, but it seems like Smart is working tirelessly to beat that schedule.
The Oklahoma State product was going through sprinting drills at the Auerbach Center on Friday, which we hadn’t seen him do since the injury.
Smart wasn’t going full speed, according to John Karalis of MassLive, but this is certainly promising.
He also was seen taking longer jump shots, which is great progress from earlier in the week when he was not leaving the floor for any workout.
Game 1 of the Celtics’ second-round series with the Milwaukee Bucks is Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, which is three weeks to the day of Smart’s injury.
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge told reporters on Friday the guard won’t play this weekend, but didn’t give any extra information beyond that.
