Easy come easy go. Not too long after the Boston Celtics were given a clean bill of health, another one of their players has gone down with an injury. Marcus Smart suffered multiple injuries during Game 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks, including a shoulder stinger that many feared could have potentially knocked him for the rest of the postseason, but Smart toughed it out. Nonetheless, the right thigh contusion he suffered appears to be problematic.
After suffering his thigh contusion in Game 1, the injury was serious enough that the team announced that Smart would not be playing in Game 2.
#NEBHInjuryReport update:
Marcus Smart (right thigh contusion) – OUT
Without his defensive and playmaking abilities, not having Smart will make beating the Bucks all the harder in this series. However, it appears Smart’s thigh contusion will only be a day-to-day injury. Shortly after the team confirmed Smart would not be playing in Game 3, Head Coach Ime Udoka stressed that because of the long break between Games 2 and 3, Smart should be ready to go for the series’ first playoff game in Milwaukee.
While Smart’s absence is one of the last things the Celtics would have wanted in this series, they can take solace that his injury could have been much worse than it actually was.
How the Celtics Have Fared Without Smart This Season
During the 2021-22 NBA season, Marcus Smart missed 11 games in total, which is a pretty healthy season all things considered. However, statistics show that the Celtics have not done too well when Smart has not played. Even though the sample size is pretty small, the Celtics went 4-7 in games that Marcus Smart did not play, according to StatMuse.
To give those numbers more context, many believed the turning point for the Celtics’ season was when they lost to the New York Knicks 105-108 on Jan. 6, which put them at 23-24. The Celtics finished the season at 51-31, meaning they only lost seven more games after that. Smart missed eight of their games after Jan. 6, and Boston lost four of the games he missed in that span.
It’s fair to say his absence may have had something to do with why they lost those games knowing how few they lost with him available. That wouldn’t be too encouraging if they lost him for an extended period.
Smart is Yet Another in a Long List of Players Out With Injuries
The injury bug has run rampant throughout the 2022 NBA Playoffs, and Marcus Smart is only the latest player to get hit by it. He’s not even the first Celtic to miss a playoff game, as Robert Williams was out in Games 1 and 2 in Boston’s previous series against the Brooklyn Nets.
It could be worse for them when factoring in what their competitors are going through.
-Their current playoff opponent is missing their all-star Khris Middleton for what’s likely to be the entire series with an MCL injury.
-The Philadelphia 76ers won’t have Joel Embiid for the foreseeable future because of his orbital fracture.
-The Miami Heat have not had Kyle Lowry since Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Outside of Devin Booker’s hamstring injury that kept him out for two games, the Western Conference hasn’t been as snakebitten as the East. However, let’s not forget that the New Orleans Pelicans did not have Zion Williamson against the Phoenix Suns. Or that the Denver Nuggets didn’t have Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr against the Golden State Warriors.
Not having Smart should make life harder for the Celtics, but at least his absence shouldn’t be for that long.
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Ime Udoka Provides Optimistic Outlook for Marcus Smart’s Injury Status