If the Boston Celtics are going to flip the script and make a deep playoff run, they’ll need a healthy Marcus Smart doing, well, Marcus Smart things.
So, there was good reason to worry Sunday night when Smart left the Celtics’ game against the Orlando Magic with what was originally diagnosed as a bruised hip. The injury since has been called an oblique contusion, an oblique strain and, most recently, a hip pointer. Either way, the clear pain that Smart was in Sunday night was concerning for the Celtics and their fans.
Danny Ainge doesn’t seem worried about the fiery guard’s availability for Boston’s first-round playoff series with the Indiana Pacers, though. During an appearance Wednesday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich,” Ainge offered an encouraging update on Smart.
“I saw Marcus getting treatment (Tuesday), he was feeling much better,” the Celtics president of basketball operations said. “We’ll probably know a lot more today when he tries to get on the court. … But I feel like he’s going to be OK, just because he’s Marcus.
” … I think we all take him for granted. I think he’s going to be OK, but he’s day-to-day right now.
Ainge also offered an update on forward Jayson Tatum, who’s been dealing with a sore shin.
“He’s fine. Jayson will be fine.”
Well, that settles that.
The Celtics will host the Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs, which get underway Saturday. The final regular-season games conclude Wednesday night, and the NBA will announce official playoff schedules sometime after that.
