LAS VEGAS – Marcus Smart spoke publicly Saturday afternoon for the first time since dislocating his right index and middle fingers Thursday night, and it sounds as if he’s on the fast track to recovery.

“I feel a lot better now,” he said, sporting a black and metal splint on his right hand and forearm. “Not so much pain as I was feeling the first couple of days. They’ve got me working on my motion, so it’s looking better.”

If you have Twitter, you’ve probably seen the gruesome images of Smart’s dislocated fingers. They were pointing in the wrong direction. Smart was the first person to see that image, and he saw it in real time. He explained today what went through his head when he looked down at hand for the first time after tumbling to the Thomas & Mack Center floor.

“I thought I broke it,” he said. “I’m sure you saw the pictures and everything. It looked like my fingers were done.”

Smart also explained that, to the surprise of many, this was the first time he has ever experienced a joint dislocation. He described the sensation and process that the injury entailed.

“When it was out, it was really painful,” he said, “but once (athletic trainer) Ed (Lacerte) and the rest of those guys and the staff here at Thomas & Mack, (they) did a great job of making sure we got it back in quickly. We got back and we took care of everything we needed to take care of.

Smart was asked what was scarier: the pain he experienced, or the initial sight of his fingers. He responded with the following:

“I think once I realized what really happened and the pain went away, it was more of a shock factor of, ‘I can’t believe my hand is the way it is.’ And then once it was back in and the pain went away for the moment, and then it was just the fact that I need to deal with this therapy and everything to get the strength back.”

Smart will dedicate his next few weeks to the rehab process after his stitches are removed this coming week. The injury will cause him to skip a trip to Africa that he had planned for July 27.

“I was looking forward to that trip,” he said, “but this is life and this is what happens. As an athlete, you’ve got to be careful.”

There’s no doubt that Smart will attack his rehab head on. He could potentially resume basketball activities sometime in August if all goes well with his additional tests. That would leave him plenty of time to prep ahead of training camp begins in late September.