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Marcus Smart Missed Wednesday's Win With Mysterious Hand Laceration

By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been a tough few days for Marcus Smart.

After getting crushed by most Celtics fans for his last-second miss in Tuesday night's loss to the Lakers, Smart spent his Wednesday afternoon in a Los Angeles hospital getting his hand stitched up after cutting it at the team hotel.

Smart obviously sat out Wednesday night's 113-102 win over the Clippers, but the Celtics don't think the injury will keep the guard out of the lineup long-term. Prior to Wednesday's game, head coach Brad Stevens said the team was still investigating how the injury occurred.

"He lacerated his hand on glass in the hotel, got stitches. I don't know the full story," Stevens told reporters before the game. "Obviously, I want to make sure that I'm thorough in telling you how it happened and what happened. But, again, I think that he cut his hand in the hotel on glass sometime this afternoon."

The Celtics are off on Thursday, so we probably won't get any details on the injury until the C's hit the practice floor at the University of San Francisco on Friday. New England has plenty of experience with mysterious hand injuries lately, thanks to Tom Brady's torn up throwing hand ahead of last week's AFC Championship Game. Just a guess, but this one likely won't get as much pub as Brady's.

The fact Smart's injury occurred away from the floor isn't the best look for the guard, who tends to be a bit of a hot-head from time to time. And based on Stevens' comments, the Celtics aren't particularly pleased with him either.

But we won't rush to judge just yet, and as long as it doesn't keep him out of the lineup for too long or keep him from being his pesky self on the defensive end, fans probably won't mind too much. Plus, maybe the injury will keep him from hoisting up those ill-advised shots, making it a win-win situation.

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