With their March 24 victory over the Indiana Pacers, the Boston Celtics secured their 51st win of the season, courtesy of some elite offense and solid defensive action.
After the game, Jayson Tatum used his post-game press conference to credit the performance of Marcus Smart and his ability to push the tempo throughout the night.
“Smart is always trying to find guys, find his teammates, get guys open, get them going,” Tatum said, “So if you looking or not, if you’re gonna be there or not, he’s gonna throw it. So, we all know when Smart has the ball, keep your head on a swivel. Run, he’s gonna find you; he’s trying to pass first. And when he’s pushing the ball, we all got to follow suit.”
Smart has been dealing with an ankle injury over the last few weeks but seems to be closing in on full health, as he found ways to impact the game without doing much damage to the stat sheet. However, Smart did come away from the contest with 6 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound, and 3 steals while shooting 66.7% from the field on 2-of-3 shooting.
Joe Mazzulla Credits Star Duo
While both Smart and Derrick White impressed throughout Boston’s latest win, head coach Joe Mazzulla believes it’s the presence of Tatum and Jaylen Brown that provides the guards with the opportunity to be aggressive on offense.
“I think it goes to Jaylen and Jayson,” Mazzulla said. “When those two guys are finding the (Marcus) Smart‘s, the Derrick’s, the Al’s, for catch and shoot opportunities. It allows for them to be comfortable. And so I think it’s just a team-connected dynamic of we’re very cautious of our spacing and we’re very cautious of playing the right way. And I think everybody reaps the benefits from that, you know, like Smart’s only took three shots today, but his potential assists and what he did to get us in early offense is not on the stat sheet. And you know, when Derrick is that aggressive because of those things, we’re a different team.”
Marcus Smart Sounds Off on Losing NBA Finals
During an exclusive interview with Boardroom, Smart discussed the Celtics’ NBA finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, opening up on the emotional pain a tough defeat like that can cause.
Great @boardroom interview with Marcus Smart here, highly recommend the read!
“What hurt more than actually losing is the fact of how close we were,” Smart said. “We were able to feel it, taste it, see it, smell it, hear it. And all last summer, that’s all we had to deal with, and hear was, ‘You guys almost did it. You almost made it.’ Close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. It definitely sucked.”
The Celtics are hoping to return to the NBA finals at the first time of asking but will need to overcome some stern competition from the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks if they want to make it out of the Eastern Conference.
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Jayson Tatum Sounds Off on Marcus Smart Following Celtics Win Over Pacers