CLEVELAND -- Boston Celtics big man Daniel Theis -- who tore his meniscus against the Indiana Pacers in March -- has been with the Celtics for most of the playoff run, working out at the Waltham practice facility and cheering the team on from the sidelines as the team has propelled themselves to within a win from the NBA Finals.

At first, it was tough for Theis to watch. Now? He's just enjoying the ride.

"Now it's just fun," Theis told reporters at shootaround before the Celtics' Game 6 matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. "See how all the guys progressed, got better over the first two rounds of the playoffs. It's like every game somebody else steps up, it's sometimes Terry (Rozier), Jayson (Tatum), Jaylen (Brown). And it's impressive and it's fun to watch."

Theis does seem to be enjoying himself, and his teammates seem to like having him around. As the media gathered around him, Rozier told Theis to keep his answers short.

"Why, do you want to talk?" Theis asked him. "You can go first."

"(Expletive) it, long answers then," Rozier answered.

Theis was sporting the confetti version of the Scary Terry shirt popularized by Rozier and the Mickstape podcast.

"I'm still waiting that he's going to give me some more (versions of the shirt)," Theis said, laughing. "I think I've got two of these right now."

But while Theis is making the best of his recovery, he hopes to be back on the court soon. He told reporters his doctors believe he'll be running again in the next two weeks.

"I've been working with (Celtics assistant) Kenny (Graves) on dribbling, standstill shooting," Theis said. "Everything is just straight. I'm not allowed to cut right now."

After Theis' injury, he had the choice to remove part of his meniscus or have it repaired. The former would have shortened his recovery time considerably but comes with significant risk of deterioration down the road. The latter required more time to heal but carries less risk.

The 25-year-old wisely opted for the second option.

"It was an easy decision, because they told me if I would have been like 30, they would have just taken it out," Theis said. "But for the long term of my career, the best way was to fix it and repair it. That's why it takes longer than just taking it out and then play again."

After the season, Theis will head back to Germany to complete his rehab. He said he might rejoin the team briefly in July before -- pending his recovery -- joining the German national team.

"That's the plan right now," Theis said. "It's a good preparation for me too. I think I can start basketball like full contact in August. Then if I can play high level in like September it's good for me, it's good for the team to see how I'm progressing in terms of training camp in September."

For now, Theis just hopes to see more Celtics basketball.

"From the first game here in Cleveland when Gordon got hurt, I think everybody got tougher, get into new roles because over the season, every time somebody missed a game -- like Kyrie was sitting out sometimes because of his knee and missed a game -- every time, somebody stepped up," Theis said. "Also, a big part was just Brad throws everybody in there. You got no conscious of, sometimes you don't play a couple of games, but the next one he just throws you in there for like 20-25 minutes and he knows what you can give him and help this team to win."