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Smart could just heal quickly, have an unusually high pain threshold, or the Celtics might have been putting sandbags all the time in the event of a recoil. The truth is probably a combination of the three. But Sunday afternoon, there was Smart, again dripping with sweat, this time with some of his most encouraging news for weeks.
"I feel good today," he said. "Today was a good day, I was able to participate with the team, a real light.The boxes are being checked.We take it one day at a time, but we are really in the right position, at the right time, a progressive phase to which I am about to return. "
Smart has officially become questionable for match 4 of this semifinal series of the conference against the Bucks. And, according to what Smart said Sunday, it seems he will play as long as he can avoid a setback when he wakes up Monday morning.
Smart said that he had been allowed to perform full training on Saturday. He participated in three-to-three exercises in which he tried "all sorts of things to get touched," just to make sure he could. For if he wants to come back, he certainly wants to come back as Marcus Smart, and that will involve bumps and bumps. He absorbed the contact by passing through the screens and keeping the players around the screens. He took passes at the station and took elbows and blows. He even took a charge.
"I was not trying, I just fell," Smart said with a smile. "I fell, I did not even try to bear it. It was ironic, because that was what I had to do. And it happened all alone, natural. I felt good.
And, perhaps more importantly, he felt good Sunday. Stevens said that whenever Smart returns, his minutes would be restricted, mainly because he had stayed four weeks without running in court. And it will be used in shorter bursts, which will allow it to move forward.
"You always think how much it affects your rotation, who it will play, how it fits," said Stevens. "Does he complete or not the people he's playing with, when to play it, all these things, and at the same time, I think if Marcus becomes available, every time he gets, he's a guy who can affect the game, whether for a few minutes or longer.We will definitely use it and we will be happy to recover it. "
Last season, Smart missed the first four games of the Celtics' first-round series against the Bucks because of a torn ligament. He came back in the fifth game and helped the Celtics win two of the next three games to qualify for the semi-finals of the conference.
It was feared that after his return from an injury like that, he would not have the same diabolical approach that he usually takes. Only minutes after the start of his first match, he lay on the ground and grabbed a loose bullet with his thumb surgically repaired.
"If I am able to play, I doubt that there are movements that I can not do," he said Sunday. "So we will see. Let's hope that if I'm able to play, they do not tell me, "All right, there are these restrictions." I hope they'll just let me go play. "
The Celtics averaged 101.3 points for 100 possessions in the regular season, but surrendered 107
this series against the Bucks. The return of Smart, defensive candidate this season, would be an obvious boon.
He would probably be deployed to defend Bucks star Khris Middleton, and would also be a good weapon to commit offensive fouls against the relentless attacks of the great man Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"Oh, man, that was brutal for me," said Smart about sitting down. "I will not lie. Especially when we go back to the locker room, especially after a game like Friday, where the guys are exhausted and we can see it on their faces and everything and they are not happy with the result.
"You have to sit there and watch and the coach talks about what you did wrong, and you are not included. It's just a bad feeling. I hope this can change.
Adam Himmelsbach can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.
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