Marcus Smart could miss the rest of the road trip with his lacerated hand
It was a bit of a surprise to find out that Marcus Smart was going to miss their last game against the Clippers, and there was a lot of uncertainty as to why he was going to be out. Shortly after, it was discovered that Smart hurt his hand back at the hotel, and now it has been revealed that he could miss the remainder of this road trip because of this lacerated hand (Via CelticsBlog).
As to how he got that cut, there is a lot of speculation, but it appears there is a chance that it was not an accident. Smart has a history with anger problems, and we have seen him lose a bit of control in the past. It does not sound like any long term damage was done, but it is never a good look when a player gets hurt like this for reasons completely irrelevant to basketball.
The most unfortunate part is that this means the Celtics will be without Smart for the most difficult game during this road trip, and then another offense in the Nuggets that could do same damage to the Celtics with one of their best defenders sidelined.
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The Celtics have been dealing with injuries all year, so they have some confidence in Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin‘s ability to step up. The problem is that trust goes out the window when you have Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on the other side.
The Celtics really do need Smart to be at their best on defense, and even if he is not missing time, it puts the Celtics in a much more difficult position to try and make sure they put that four game skid behind them.
The Celtics had their great bounce back game against the Clippers, and they were shorthanded in that one. Obviously, the Warriors are a completely different story, but even if they cannot win they need to make sure they are not derailed by anything that happens in the game.
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It sounds like Smart could be back immediately after the road trip, so there is no need to panic here. When it is all said and done, the bigger problem could end up being how Smart managed to cut his hand on glass, rather than the few games it may cause him to miss.