NEW YORK – Marcus Smart looks like Marcus Smart again.
More importantly, Marcus Smart feels like Marcus Smart again.
Smart, who missed nearly six weeks earlier this season after suffering a lower left leg injury, returned to the lineup on Dec. 27 but struggled to find a rhythm during his first few weeks back. Over the last two weeks, however, he has found his groove while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from long distance. He matched a career high in the scoring column Sunday night by scoring 26 points against the Orlando Magic.
It’s no coincidence that his numbers have continued to improve as he has distanced himself from the original injury.
“I can definitely say that I feel a lot better than I did a week ago, a month ago,” Smart said before Monday afternoon’s practice in New York. “Every day is a good day, because it’s an extra day where my body gets to heal.”
And it’s also an extra day for him to go to work.
Many on the outside underestimate how difficult it is for an NBA player to return from an injury. A return becomes even more challenging when that injury is a lower-body injury.
“He wasn’t able to be on his feet much,” head coach Brad Stevens said of Smart’s rehabilitation program, “Sometimes when you get hurt you’re able to rehab and you can get a lot of shots up and you can not have to get your skill back in a way. He didn’t get a chance to do that.”
Instead, Smart was relegated to stationary shooting, which in his mind was not beneficial in the least bit, as it did not involve his true shooting motion.
“I couldn’t jump,” he said bluntly.
When Smart was healthy enough to return to the lineup on Dec. 27, that’s when his return to basketball activity truly began. As Stevens said, Smart was forced to use game action as his practice time.
That is, until the Celtics were given an extra day of practice on Jan. 23.
Smart and his Celtics were supposed to be in Philadelphia that day to take on the 76ers. Winter Storm Jonas, however, deviated that plan.
The NBA postponed the contest until Sunday night, giving the Celtics a chance to practice at their home gym in Waltham, Mass. Smart took advantage of the opportunity by putting in extra work after practice concluded.
Since that Saturday, which is now referred to as the team’s “snow day,” Smart has been red-hot at the offensive end of the court. He has made 46.2 percent of his field goals and 48.1 percent of his 3-pointers over a five-game stretch.
“I definitely feel like the snow day had a big part in that (turnaround),” he said, “just because I was able to get in the gym and get some reps up, get back to feeling good and get my legs back under me.”
The numbers don’t lie, and neither does the eye test. It is very apparent to Stevens that Smart is a different player now than he was just a month ago.
“He’s getting better,” the coach said. “Clearly, he’s in much more of a groove offensively.”
In addition to finding a rhythm with his shot, Smart also believes that he’s now able to make more plays off of the dribble than he could just a few short weeks ago.
“These injuries kind of postponed my ability to do those things,” he said. “The more healthy I get day to day, the more and more I’m able to do a lot more things than I used to be able to do.”
That has become quite apparent over the last two weeks. Smart is healthy again and has shaken off the rust that accumulated during his six-week absence earlier this season.
As such, he’s also looking like himself again: a dynamic defender who can also provide a punch at the offensive end.
