Celtics notebook: Marcus Smart returns with a calming hand

Marcus Smart admits that considering the way he plays, injuries will always be part of the equation.

But the six-game absence that ended with Smart’s return for Sunday’s 116-87 win over Washington was as tough to accept as any he’s been through. He spent his time recovering not only from a breakthrough case of COVID, but also a deep thigh bruise, courtesy of the knee of Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis.

Before playing a minute, though, Smart had a message for every teammate.

“I just told everybody I love them. ‘I love all you guys,’ I’m here and proud and really looking for everybody’s success. I’m glad to be a part of everybody’s success. I know obviously things haven’t been going our way, but we just have to go out there and do what we know we ought to do,” he said. “I pulled Jayson (Tatum), Jaylen (Brown) told them separately by themselves, and I went down the line with everybody individually and told them I appreciate them, I’m proud of them, this is what you do, just go out there and do it and keep doing it, and I told Jaylen and Jayson, keep playing. Don’t worry about it.

“I told Jayson specifically, ‘I know you ain’t hit a 3 in about 20 attempts, just keep shooting.’ I said, ‘I’m going to make sure I find you, I’m going to get you going, I’m going to get you open,’” said Smart. “Just shoot the ball and don’t think about it. Don’t worry about anything else, just play the game of basketball. Don’t worry about anything else then playing the game, play the right way. Defense gives you the shot, you take it. They give you the drive, you drive it. They come on your help, you make the right read and we go from there. Him and Jaylen came out and just showed today, so being able to take that control as the point guard and knowing and understanding my teammates was big and it was something we needed.”

Smart responded with one of his typical stat lines, including 11 points, six assists, two 3-pointers, four steals and four turnovers. He was also exactly what this struggling team has needed — a stable hand.

“Solid. He’s been what he’s been all year,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka. “He settles us down at times, knows when a guy is going who to get some shots for and obviously his defensive presence, toughness and mentality he brings to the team is invaluable.”

On Sunday, it was easy enough to feed the go-to guy. Tatum set a career-high with nine 3-pointers on the way to the fourth 50-plus performance of his career.

The return of limited opportunities

The Celtics had their full lineup available for only the 13th time this season, and though Aaron Nesmith was available after missing two games to a sprained ankle, he returned to limited opportunity because of the rare availability of the full rotation.

Romeo Langford, like Nesmith one of 14 Celtics to go into health and safety protocol over the last two months, also missed out on some of the opportunity that normally has been available with his teammates out.

“I mean, honestly, unfortunately for them, when they did play when guys were out, they got injured as well,” said Udoka. “Romeo missed quite a few games there and then Aaron as well coming off a game we played well in. So didn’t get the consistent minutes or kind of rolled down with all the guys in and out, so didn’t really get to see them fully like we wanted to in that stretch.

“But they both had their flashes and Josh (Richardson) being out a few games,” he said. “Romeo was really steady and really good before he got hurt. And then Aaron, the same. Like I said he helped us obviously win a game and played great down the stretch, and then obviously rolled the ankle in that game so we haven’t seen him lately. But would have loved to get everybody more opportunity and I felt like injuries were plaguing guys at the wrong time when we had some opportunity with guys out with COVID.”

No more COVID?

Smart’s return, after being the 14th Celtic to fall prey to COVID-19, would seem to indicate that the Celtics are finally in the clear where the virus is concerned. Right?

“Just from a COVID standpoint, everybody’s almost been hit pretty hard. So as far as that, we don’t see that hampering us as much anymore,” said Udoka. “It’s just the entry bugs and, you know, ankle here, and little things here and there. So hopefully guys stay healthy, we can start to shave down some minutes on other guys and go deeper into the rotation. And so at some point it has to balance out and hopefully this is for the rest of the season where it balances out.”