The Boston Celtics ended the All-Star break on a four-game win streak, riding high despite still not being at full strength. Now, the 19-17 Celtics should have their emotional leader back to open the second half of the season.

Celtics guard Marcus Smart said Wednesday he should be back on the court against the Nets on Thursday in Brooklyn. Smart was back on the practice court Wednesday, where he gave it a full go between 5-on-5 drills, full contact and pushing his limits. Smart has not played since Jan. 30 as he tended to a calf injury.

“It was hard to really do stuff over the break; 5 on 5, stuff like that,” Smart said. “(Wednesday) was the first day and it felt great. They cleared me and said if today went well, I’m probably most likely going to play (Thursday) unless things changes. As of right now, I will be playing in the game (Thursday).”

Don’t expect Smart to jump right back into the rotation full-time, though. Boston Coach Brad Stevens said Smart will be back on a minutes restriction for at least the next few games, which he’ll have to discuss at length with the training staff. Smart’s averaging a career-high 32.3 minutes per game this season before the calf injury.

Smart’s return should give the Celtics a major boost as they near a healthy roster. The Celtics have only had their projected top five players for all of 21 minutes this season.

76ERS: Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will both be unable to start the second half of the season with the Philadelphia 76ers, though neither All-Star will be missing from the Eastern Conference leaders’ lineup for long.

Both will miss Philadelphia’s game Thursday in Chicago, and Simmons will also miss the 76ers’ contest on Friday against Washington. Provided both continue to test negative for COVID-19, they would be cleared after those games, the 76ers said.

Simmons and Embiid both traveled to Atlanta for Sunday’s All-Star Game, only to learn the night before that they were flagged by contact tracing data. The barber that both visited prior to their private flights to Atlanta tested positive for COVID-19, and even though neither Embiid nor Simmons tested positive the league’s health and safety protocols for navigating through a pandemic this season meant they had to be sidelined for a week.

Games resume in the NBA on Wednesday after the All-Star break, with a pair of contests – San Antonio visiting Dallas and Washington going to Memphis.

NETS: Kevin Durant will remain out for the rest of this week and it is unclear when he will return to Brooklyn’s lineup, meaning he will miss more than a month with a strained left hamstring.

Blake Griffin also will be sidelined when the Nets open the second half Thursday against Boston, though he stressed he’s not injured. He and the Nets think it’s smart to take their time increasing his workload after signing Monday.

Durant hasn’t played since Feb. 13 at Golden State. The Nets hoped at first the injury wouldn’t be serious, but announced on Feb. 26 that a follow-up MRI showed a clearer picture of the injury and would keep Durant sidelined through the All-Star break.

Coach Steve Nash said Durant will have another scan of the injury next week.

CAVALIERS: Joe Tait, a longtime Cleveland sports broadcaster and voice of the Cavaliers for more than four decades, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Tait had recently gone into hospice care following a lengthy battle with kidney disease and liver cancer.

“A friend and mentor to many over the years, Joe Tait wasn’t just a member of the Cavaliers family; he was a part of the Cavs story like no one else and his voice and unique, candid perspective reverberates throughout the team’s history,” the Cavs said in a statement. “He will be dearly missed.”

Tait was with the NBA team from its inception in 1970 until he retired in 2011, calling over 3,000 games. In his final season, the Cavs honored Tait with a commemorative banner that hangs alongside some of the team’s retired jersey numbers in the rafters of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Sometimes a little gruff when he didn’t agree with a referees’ call, Tait also had several signature sayings like “Wham with the right hand!” following a dunk.

“Joe was also famous for his dry wit and his pragmatic view of life and probably wouldn’t have wanted a big, sentimental sendoff,” the Cavs said. “So, to paraphrase the legend, himself – Let’s not say: `goodbye.’ Let’s just say: “Have a GOOD night, everybody!”‘

Tait was there in the good and bad years for the Cavs and he finally made it to the NBA finals as LeBron James led Cleveland to its first appearance in 2007.

James expressed his condolences in a Twitter posting.

“Rest In Paradise my friend!!” James wrote. “You’ll be extremely missed here!”

Tait did radio and TV play-by-play for the Cleveland Indians for 16 seasons. He also called games for the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers, Cleveland Crusaders hockey and Mount Union football.

SPURS: LaMarcus Aldridge has played his final game for San Antonio, with Coach Gregg Popovich announcing that the team and the seven-time All-Star have mutually agreed to seek opportunities for him elsewhere.

The Spurs will try to trade Aldridge before the March 25 deadline. If no trades are worked out, the team could simply buy out Aldridge and let him sign elsewhere as a free agent.

“LaMarcus is not with the team,” Popovich said before the Spurs played the Dallas Mavericks. “He’s healthy, in that respect, but we’ve mutually agreed to work out some opportunities for him and that’ll be elsewhere. So, he won’t be with the team moving forward.”

The 35-year-old Aldridge was in his sixth season with the Spurs after playing his first nine NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

GRIZZLIES 127, WIZARDS 112: Jonas Valanciunas scored a season-high 29 points and matched his season best with 20 rebounds to lead Memphis to a win at home.

Ja Morant added 21 points and 10 assists for Memphis, and rookie Desmond Bane finished with a season-high 20 points, going 5 of 8 from 3-point range.

Bradley Beal scored 21 points for the Wizards but was 6 of 22 from the field, including only 1 of 8 from 3-point range. Russell Westbrook finished with 20 points.

MAVERICKS 115, SPURS 104: Luka Doncic had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in his 33rd triple-double, Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points and 14 rebounds and Dallas used a late run to pull away and beat visiting San Antonio.

Dallas finished with a 17-4 run.

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