Marcus Smart Tests Oblique With Some Light Jogging
BOSTON (CBS) -- Marcus Smart is still at least a few weeks from returning to the Celtics. But the injured Boston guard showed some significant progress in his recovery on Tuesday.
As his Celtics teammates hit the practice floor at the Auerbach Center to get ready for their second-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, Smart tested his torn oblique by doing some light jogging on a treadmill. It may not seem like much, but for a player that said he wasn't going to start running for "a few weeks" just last week, this is a much-needed sign of progress.
Marcus Smart is lightly jogging pic.twitter.com/juI94AiaLh
— John Karalis ???????? ???????? (@John_Karalis) April 23, 2019
After his jog, Smart took to the floor for some shooting drills.
Off the treadmill and now some one-foot shooting for Marcus Smart. pic.twitter.com/XHD77VaGpU
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) April 23, 2019
He even had a little lift in his jumper later on in the session.
Marcus Smart getting up shots at #Celtics practice #WBZ @smart_MS3 pic.twitter.com/HduxsHzB6k
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) April 23, 2019
Smart suffered the injury on April 7 and was ruled out for four to six weeks. Brad Stevens told reporters Tuesday that Smart is nowhere near returning, so don't get your hopes up that we'll be seeing him pester Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks over the next few weeks.
But if you were hoping to see some progress from Boston's defensive bulldog, we got some Tuesday, just two-and-a-half weeks after Smart went down.