With the All-Star break behind them, the Boston Celtics will refocus alongside go-to guard Marcus Smart.
Before Smart made his long-awaited return just prior to the break after an 11-game hiatus with an ankle injury, Boston struggled and made the need for last season's Defensive Player of the Year evident. The Celtics went 6-5 without Smart through the stretch, losing three consecutive games at one point.
Smart initially went down on Jan. 21 against the Toronto Raptors, and he was on pace for the most efficient season of his career. Despite the numbers dropping in points and shot attempts, Smart has averaged a career-best 7.1 assists as the floor general with noticeably improved shooting splits.
But with Smart one game into his much-awaited return, the 28-year-old certainly didn't take the season's brief intermission for granted.
"Being able to have that time to recuperate was much needed," Smart said before Thursday's game against the Indiana Pacers, per team-provided video. "... Ankle feels really well. Really well. So I was a little scared there cause it is the same injury from last season, which really gave me some problems up until the beginning or halfway through the beginning of this season. So it was a little scary but the ankle has been doing really well."
The Celtics still managed to weather the storm that was Smart's absence and maintain their league-best record of 42-17 before All-Star Weekend. But like last season, as he referenced, Smart isn't feeling content with 23 games left.
"I want to see us make the push that we made last year around this time where we really dug down deep, we really bought in and gave everything we had to this final half of the season and hopefully try to help make our dreams come true," Smart said.
