Marcus Smart tweets encouraging message after calf injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Marcus Smart is trying to stay upbeat.
The Boston Celtics guard suffered a Grade 1 calf tear in Saturday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and is expected to miss about 2-3 weeks.
Smart appeared to be in a lot of pain at the time, however, and he and the Celtics are fortunate the injury wasn't more serious.
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The veteran guard adopted a positive attitude Sunday while addressing the injury on Twitter and Instagram.
"Be back in no time," Smart wrote. "The squad got this! Thanks for all the (prayer emoji)."
Smart is averaging 13.1 points and 6.1 assists this season.
NBC Sports
Smart likely will miss Boston's entire five-game West Coast road trip -- that begins at Golden State on Tuesday night -- and still could be sidelined when the team returns home on Feb. 11.
Smart's injury will mean yet another adjustment to a Celtics lineup that was playing with its projected starters Smart, Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Daniel Theis for just the second time this season.
Walker missed the first 12 games of the season recovering from a procedure on his left knee and Tatum missed multiple games earlier this month with COVID-19.
The Celtics also are without rookie point guard Payton Pritchard as he recovers from a sprained MCL, so veterans Walker and Jeff Teague will need to step up in their absence.
It sounds like Smart believes his teammates can hold it down, though.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
