When Marcus Smart went down with an injury on April 7 against the Magic, Celtics fans feared the worst as their emotional leader and one of their key defenders clutched his side.
Smart was initially diagnosed with a side contusion, and the Celtics hoped they had dodged a significant injury. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski hd reported it was a strain, which Boston initially refuted, but Woj is now reporting Smart’s injury is far worse than originally thought and that he has a tear in his oblique.
Marcus Smart has suffered a torn oblique on left side and could be sidelined for the first two rounds of the playoffs, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 10, 2019
The Celtics later confirmed the news, via release.
The Boston Celtics announced today that a Wednesday afternoon MRI revealed that Marcus Smart suffered a partial avulsion of his left oblique abdominal muscle off of his iliac crest. The injury occurred at 6:44 in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against Orlando, following contact with the Magic’s Nikola Vucevic.
Smart is currently expected to return to basketball activities in 4-6 weeks. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.
It’s a big blow for the Celtics as they would likely have to face the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the second round should they get by the Pacers in the first round. For those looking for an optimistic outlook, Boston has actually had a better net rating without Smart (4.5) during the regular season than with him (3.2), but this certainly shrinks their wing rotation and takes away one of their most versatile defensive players.
Even with that caveat, they will miss Smart’s presence and the path to the Finals just got much more difficult for Boston.
