Marcus Smart's injured right fingers expected to heel soon

NBA.com

Celtics guard Marcus Smart dislocated his right index and middle fingers last week but could be back in action by mid-August, according to a league source.

According to CSNNE's A. Sherrod Blakely, mid-August is the latest Smart can resume all basketball-related activities. Smart dislocated both fingers against the Portland Trail Blazers in the Las Vegas summer league after he dove for a loose ball.

He spoke to reporters on Saturday and said that he's feeling much better.

"I feel a lot better now. Not so much pain as I was feeling the first couple of days," Smart said. "They've got me working on my motion, so everything's feeling better." [ESPN Boston]

Smart was seen on the bench Saturday night wearing two splints while cheering on his teammates playing against the San Antonio Spurs. He also did a little bit of coaching from the sidelines, at times chatting with point guard Terry Rozier throughout the game.

At halftime, Smart talked about his injury and what went through his mind moments after he dislocated two of his right fingers, and the process he went through afterwards.

"What went through my head, I thought I broke [the fingers]," Smart said. "I'm pretty sure you saw the pictures and everything -- it looked like my fingers were done. I ended up getting five stitches on my index finger; I guess it broke skin, but I didn't know that at the time until we got them popped back in, and I saw blood at the top.

I think once the pain went away, it was more of a shock factor like 'I can't believe my hand is the way it is.' And then once it was back in, the pain went away for the moment. And then it was the fact that now I have to deal with this therapy and everything, trying to get this strength back." [ESPN Boston]

Before the injury, Smart played very well in both summer leagues, but especially at Utah.

The Celtics placed Smart in the Utah summer league to get him better acclimated to the point guard position. Smart, who led the Utah league in assists, also led the summer league in scoring.

In the Las Vegas league, it looked like Smart's focus was on his three-point shooting. He wasn't looking to pass as much as he did in Utah, but chucked up a lot of threes before he injured his fingers against Portland.

His 24-point average led the league in scoring. He also led the league in assists with 7.5 assists, and in steals; 2.5 steals in two appearances in Utah. Smart then averaged 10.7 points, 2.3 steals and 2 assists in the three games he played in the Las Vegas summer league.



Josue Pavon 
Twitter: @Joe_Sway10
@CausewayStreet