Smart thrives amid chaos
Lifts C’s with rare hot shooting night
It was a night when the Celtics couldn’t hit the snowbank from their walkway, when the chill followed them inside the Garden and into the Field Goals Attempted category.
So, of course, they turned to their poorest shooting regular this side of Semi Ojeleye for answers and relief. The chaos theory, right?
CELTICS BEAT Steve Bulpett
Marcus Smart came in shooting 34 percent from the floor and proceeded to bail out the Bostonians with a team-high 18 points in a 91-84 victory over Minnesota last evening. He made 8-of-13 shots — the only Celt other than Terry Rozier (6-of-11) or Guerschon Yabusele (1-of-1) to hit 50 percent or better.
Smart entered the game with 4:53 left in the third quarter and the C’s down seven. They were ahead by four at period’s end and never trailed again.
He and Rozier kept the pace up even when the Celtics as a whole were assaulting the rim with wayward shots. And while defense is the pair’s calling card, they combined for 32 points to wobble the Wolves.
Celtics not named Smart or Rozier clanged collectively at a 34.3 percent clip.
“Smart and Rozier were huge for them,” said Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau. “They are so deep that sometimes you can overlook those guys. We talked about how important Rozier and Smart are to the team and they made big plays at timely spots in the fourth for them.”
It’s nothing new for Rozier, who’d averaged 15.6 points on 60.4 percent shooting (55.6 percent on treys) in the previous five games.
But while Smart has still found a way to make big plays (you do recall the two charges he drew on James Harden a week ago Thursday, right?), he has had regular issues with his shot.
This, however, was the kind of game made for him.
“Sometimes when we’re struggling, I think the ball is going to find energy,” said Brad Stevens. “And Marcus Smart has energy and plays that way and plays with a great chip (on his shoulder).
“I think that he’s doing a really good job right now of choosing the right ones. You know, he had a couple where he got into the paint or just outside the paint, shot a pull-up with the right amount of shot prep and everything else and it went down. And then I think he’s really trying to get to the rim when he can. And so he’s playing at a good level.
“We need him to continue to do so. Obviously he’s a really important part of our team. It’s hard to go small (last night), which is a little bit unique, because of their size. And so, we didn’t go small until the last three or four minutes. But Smart’s ability to guard those other positions helps.”
As Rozier put it, “There’s nights like that where we’ve got to win it on the defensive end, and I think we played pretty good defense (last night). That’s what pushed us over at the end of the game.
“We can create our offense by playing defense, and that’s what me and Smart have been doing a pretty good job of.”
And that offense was welcome relief.
“It felt amazing,” said Smart. “It felt good to finally see a couple of shots go down. We were all talking. We were laughing. Coach came in and made a comment that we put up enough bricks to build a house (last night). But we just stuck with it, and our defense came and got us a victory again.”
A key for him is not settling for outside shots, even though some of them are open.
“Definitely going to the rack a little more, but under control,” Smart said. “Especially with a lot of teams trying to go under me, I’m going to continue to keep getting close to the basket, and they’re going to force me to take those shots, so I’ve got to be able to take it. My teammates keep telling me, coach is telling me, take those shots when I’m open. I’m just trying to make the right read.”
The first page of that read mentions almost nothing about shooting. Smart is paid to enter the china shop and break dishes.
Of the turnaround he provided in the third quarter, he said, “That’s my job, bring energy off the bench, create for others and be the playmaker I am. So when I get in the game, I just try to create a lot of chaos and get us running the floor.”
Last night the chaotic contributions of Smart and Rozier created a fifth straight win for the Celtics.