Marcus Smart Likely Won’t Play Against The Sixers Because Of An Ankle Injury


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It’s tough to call anything a trend just two games into the season, but it’s starting to feel like the injury bug is hitting the Boston Celtics hard.

The injury woes for the Celtics start with potentially missing Gordon Hayward for the season after a gruesome opening-night broken ankle against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a horrifying start to the season for the Celtics, who then lost to Milwaukee Bucks to start the season 0-2.

Now it appears that Marcus Smart, who was injured against the Bucks, won’t play in the team’s quest for its first win with Kyrie Irving on the roster. Celtics coach Brad Stevens said early Friday that Smart injured his ankle and likely won’t play for the team against the Philadelphia 76ers.

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/921391199776362496

The Celtics tweeted out a quote from Stevens that said Smart was “most likely out,” and other media posted pictures of Smart with his left ankle taped heavily at practice on Friday morning.

It will be a compelling matchup regardless of whether Smart plays, with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid also looking for their first win of the season. But it’s clear the Celtics were hoping for a better start to their 2017-18 campaign here. Smart will likely return sooner rather than later, but injuring one player injuring both ankles and another freaking an entire arena out with an awful scene is not an ideal way to tip things off.

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