C’s Smart shoots through the criticism
Guard doesn’t care ‘what anybody says’
Like just about everyone on the Celtics roster, MArcus Smart has added to his offensive game, including mid-range shots and floaters.
As much as Smart is well aware of the debate his game brings — the debate that says he shoots too much — expect those shots to keep coming.
“I’ve been doing the same thing I’ve been doing,” he said. “The same thing with my 3-point ability, just continue to shoot the ball, shoot with confidence, not really give a (bleep) what anybody says, no cares about me shooting.
“I know I get (bleep) a lot. Who cares, you know?
“Just go out there and continue to do it. My teammates trust me, I believe in myself, I know what I can do, just because I’m not doing it every night,” said Smart. “We have a stacked team so a lot of times, the stuff that I do, or not doing does go unnoticed. So for me it’s just keep playing. There’s nothing new. It’s nothing different that I haven’t been doing, working in the past. It’s just with those guys out it was more opportunities for me to show the skill set. So, like I said, it is really just going out there and just doing it. Nothing new.”
On his nerves
Smart has been dealing with a pinched nerve in his right shoulder.
“Sometimes when I get hit or certain moments affect me more than others. Those little stingers that I get usually last, roughly, 30 seconds to about five minutes, it just depends on how my body reacts. But for the most part the shoulder has been doing great. Yeah, it’s been hanging a couple times in games to relieve some pressure but for the most part it’s doing great.”
Time to get back
As well as they scored during the three-game win streak they carried into Wednesday night, Smart sees a large need for improvement in getting back when those shots don’t fall. And he pins at least part of the issue of transition defense on the double
big lineups the Celtics have been playing.
“It’s transition. We’re 28th in the league in transition and three in halfcourt defense — that’s it right there, it’s transition defense,” he said. “We have to do a better job. It’s weird, because we’re playing with two bigs a lot, and where our system is our bigs are supposed to crash — we’ve got both of our bigs crashing and at least one of our wings crashing, or get caught staring in the corners watching our bigs work down there and get to the bounce and everything, and guys were
just getting behind. Once we clean up that transi
tion defense, everything else will come back to fruition. It will come back to the standards of what we’re capable of doing.”
Edwards was symptomatic
Like Rob Williams and Jayson Tatum before him, Carsen Edwards suffered through some initial symptoms after becoming the third Celtic to test positive for COVID-19.
“I had symptoms for a couple of days,” said Edwards. “I lost my taste and my smell, and then the first two nights were rough, but after that I was just kind of on quarantine just trying to stay out the way and be healthy and get healthy. But I’m fine now. I feel better.”