FanPost

No Rush But When Does Marcus Smart Come Back?

One player won’t always make a difference. But for this instance, the Cs could have used Marcus Smart.


Let’s get to it.


In an embarrassing display of a lackluster effort and appearing asleep for most parts of the game, minus the late fourth-quarter comeback, the Boston Celtics lost to the New York Knicks at a score of 120-117 in overtime.


Sigh.


The Celtics find themselves in another slump as they have now lost 3 in a row, albeit the first two games being chaotic with 4 Celtics players being unavailable to hoop.


One of my biggest takeaways from the game was that it felt similar to their earlier slump, wherein, the team would come out guns blazing to start off the game, the opposing team would find some rhythm to stop the bleeding, and the Cs falter and struggle to recover from a collapse.


At 5:45 in the first quarter, the Cs were up 15 against the Knicks as the ball movement is popping and the three-balls are falling. It also helped to have Jayson Tatum go scorching hot for 12 early points as he looked to make amends for the late-game turnover against the Heat, being fresh off the All-Star Starters announcement.


After White’s three-ball to put the Cs up 15, Randle makes a strong poster slam over Al as he had that look. From then on, the Knicks get ignited and they go on for a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to 8.


The Celtics looked to Brown to ignite some energy into this ball club, sadly we didn’t get any kind of ignition as he struggled in shooting the rock.


Jaylen Brown - 22 points on 36.4% shooting from the field and 12.5% shooting from deep.


Granted, it could be because of rust as I know JB is better than the version we saw. But man, those two missed free throws were such a nail in the coffin that I even gave a sigh of relief when he got fouled as he went up for the mid-range pull-up as the free throws would’ve given the Cs the lead.


When it came to jolting some energy, I expected DWhite to continue where he left off after a great outing against Miami. Especially when he was tasked to guard Jalen Brunson for most of the night.


He was great on offense as he dropped 15 points on 40% shooting from the field and 57.1% from deep. Unfortunately, White came up short in making things difficult for Brunson. Yes, White won’t always be on Brunson’s heels, but defending an opponent’s elite guard will always fall on the shoulders of Smart and White. Just disappointing that White was unable to deliver the goods in Smart’s absence.


The same goes for the rest of the team when it came to making things interesting for Randle as he got his way the whole game for 37 points on 52% shooting from the field and 38.5% shooting from deep. He and Brunson basically put on a clinic and the Cs weren’t able to hold them off just enough to secure a win.


It was honestly puzzling that they didn’t try and doubled either Brunson or Randle as that was one of the actions they ran on defense that allowed them to go on a strong run in tying the ball game.


This goes in line with my main point for this blog: Enter Marcus Smart.


With how the Cs struggled in getting any kind of proper flow in their offense, it looked stagnant and out of sync which at first puzzled me. They still have elite playmakers in Brogdon and White, along with Tatum being able to make things happen with the ball in his hands.


But Marcus Smart basically acts as the catalyst for that offense as he starts everything off with his pace and his decision-making. With Smart starting things off on offense, then comes White and Brogdon to maintain composure and momentum off Smart’s impact.


When the ball movement wasn’t flowing as much, it would have been great to have Smart out here along with Brogdon to settle everyone down and get good possession in securing the lead.


Besides being the catalyst on offense, Smart is the leader of this team’s defense as you felt his absence with Brunson being able to get anything he wanted at the basket.


When you also bring in the factor that the team could’ve used the spark that Marcus usually brings to this ball club, makes you appreciate the importance of Smart to how the Cs play offense and defense.


Some stats by the way:


Celtics' Offensive Rating with Smart - 119.0 OFFRTG

Celtics’ Defensive Rating with Smart - 113.2 DFRTG


My two cents? Listen, I’m not making this as an excuse to not be pissed about that loss or to even give the guys a pass. They had more than enough and multiple opportunities to put that game away and they fumbled it big time. But that kind of loss makes me appreciate and respect more the impact that Smart imprints on this team as he brings it all on offense, defense, and toughness.


Everyone knew that whoever would win this game meant who was going to be tougher throughout the duration of the ball game. The Cs showed some fight, but the Knicks were in complete control for almost the whole game and even relied on some mental toughness to pull out a gutsy win after choking away their big lead in the fourth.


Honestly though, beat the Lakers, and not a bad week overall.

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