Sad news: A prominent player for the Boston Celtics gets a terrible injury while
For the Celtics, the past 24 hours have been as excruciating as biting your tongue and stabbing your toe on a chair. After losing to Indiana 99-97 at home on Sunday night, everything went south for Boston. And by downhill, I mean that with 15 games remaining before the playoffs, the TD Garden has effectively become an infirmary.
Here is the medical report and an analysis of its potential impact on the Celtics going forward and, more significantly, on the postseason.
The Torn Thumb Tendon of Marcus Smart
Please pardon me while I try not to imagine having a torn tendon in my thumb. Oh my. Given that he frequently bounces off players and the floor and that nobody truly knows what his limbs are doing most of the time, this injury is very Marcus Smart-related. During a play on Sunday, Smart hurt his thumb diving onto the court. He taped it up and was able to return to the game. The injury sounds serious, which is bad news. Smart is reportedly out indefinitely and intends to seek a second opinion regarding the injury. Please don’t fact-check me on this, but it seems to me that seeking a second opinion never indicates that the injury is less severe than initially believed.
The depth and defense of the Celtics are greatly enhanced by Smart. Even though he is inconsistent offensively, losing him has a cascade of effects. It’s Terry Rozier Time with Shane Larkin still limited to minutes and neither of them and Kyrie (more on him shortly) in the backcourt for the foreseeable future. Averaging career highs in points (10.6), rebounds (4.4), and assists (2.5), Terry Rozier has been a surprising source of production off the Celtics bench. He has also produced numerous “How did Terry Rozier do that?” moments.
