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After a late practice Wednesday night, Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart spoke to the media in light of getting cleared to play Friday against the Detroit Pistons.
It was then when he revealed that there was a three-inch piece of glass that doctors pulled out of Smart’s hand, and it was sitting between two tendons. If the glass had hit one of them, than Smart would have needed season ending surgery to repair the damage.
Marcus Smart said doctors pulled a shard of glass out the palm of his hand after his frame-punching incident in LA. It barely missed the tendons, which would have likely meant season-ending surgery. pic.twitter.com/1pvSwxUqrj
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) February 22, 2018
Smart was cleared to play Wednesday after missing the last 11 games with right hand lacerations. Boston had gone 6-5 during that stretch, including a three-game losing streak and some of their worst defense this season.
In a contract year with the state of teams constricting their spending on free agents, this would have been a terrible mistake for Smart to make, let alone another potential brutal injury to this Celtics team.
The Celtics return to action on Friday at 7 p.m. EST against the Pistons, as Brad Stevens plans to change the rotation in order to get his team back on track before the playoffs.