HOUSTON – Jae Crowder had an easy smile Saturday night at the Toyota Center, and an air of relief about him too. He’s hit an important mark in his recovery from adductor surgery as he has 3 five-on-five practice sessions scheduled in the coming week.

He said if there was a setback in the recovery process, he was going to take it in stride, “but I did have a set target to get to this point.

“And I pushed myself to get to this point and took care of my body and tried to do the things I needed to do while I’m away from the medical staff, while I’m at home doing the little stuff that I needed to do to get myself back to where I need to be.”

The 33-year-old Milwaukee Bucks forward underwent surgery on Nov. 14 to repair a tear in his left adductor muscle that was aggravated on Nov. 11 in Orlando. He began his first work on the court Nov. 27 and has had a smooth physical recovery since.

The team originally felt he would be able to return to the court approximately eight weeks post-op, and that date is Tuesday.

“I did in the back of my head have this end goal,” he said of his upcoming practices. “This is a goal, an achievement in this process for me and I’m very happy with where I am today. It feels great. It feels like my hard work that I’ve been doing with the medical staff (paid off).

“I’m very thankful for the hands that I’ve been working with on a daily basis and helping me when I had a bad attitude and just coming in and just bearing with me and just keeping the process moving forward. I think I’m very happy with that, I’m very satisfied.

“So when I was able to do five-on-(zero) this week I just felt great. I just had extra juice, I’m just ready to go. I’m pain free right now so I’m very thankful for that.”

On Nov. 30 Crowder admitted having his first major surgery – and ensuing rehab process – was tough to handle mentally, and he said he had four bad days in that regard. But it also corrected an injury he had been managing since the fourth day of training camp.

While he didn’t look too incumbered when the season began in shooting 51.6% from behind the three-point line and 53.2% overall in 26.7 minutes per game, he was playing in pain. He knows being totally healthy can only help – particularly on the defensive end where the Bucks are 22^nd in the league in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions).

“Ultimately, down the line – I don’t know if immediately – but I know down the line I know I’m going to be in a better situation than I was before,” he said. “I felt like I was playing good basketball before. I feel like I’m going to be playing even better basketball post this injury. I really, honestly in my heart I feel that way. I don’t know how soon that’s going to be. I have to ramp myself back up.

“I’ll be on a minute restriction when I come back. That’s going to be frustrating for anybody to stay in a groove or find a groove. But I’m going to stay the course and be very happy and thankful to even be able to put on a uniform again and get some minutes and hopefully heal this thing back up.”

When will Jae Crowder return?

As for the five-on-five practice sessions, which will be aided by the team’s G League affiliate in the Wisconsin Herd, Crowder said there are a few things he wants to feel out before he can put a finger on a return to NBA action. He chuckled and said he couldn’t quite name them all, but first and foremost was not feeling the painful pulling sensation in his left leg when running. Then, he wants to see how he recovers from rigorous, physical practice.

As such, Crowder said has no game circled on the calendar for him to return to the Bucks.

“No, not right now,” he said. “Just keep checking the boxes and not looking too far ahead.”

But, he believes when that time comes he’ll be better off than he was at the start of the season.

“I just want to get back to feeling what I want, what I need to feel,” he said. “I think ultimately that I’ll be better. I think I’ll be better than I was before pre-injury, honestly. Just taking on the challenges of what we need to do, like helping these guys, taking on that matchup of stopping the best offensive player. I think I’ll be much better off than I was before and I felt like I was doing a decent job at it before.”