Marcus Smart Fined $5,000 For Game 3 Flop, Leads Celtics To Game 4 Win Over Hawks

Marcus Smart scored 20 points, 11 of them in the fourth quarter, to lead the Boston Celtics to a 104-95 overtime victory over the Atlanta in Game 4 on Sunday night and tie the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series 2-2.

Marcus Smart Fined $5,000 For Game 3 Flop, Leads Celtics To Game 4 Win Over Hawks

After Celtics coach Brad Stevens unsuccessfully enlisted all of his big men to slow Hawks power forward Paul Millsap, Stevens turned to 6-foot-4 Smart during a timeout with about nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and tasked him with guarding the 6-foot-8 Millsap, who had already scored the most points in an Atlanta Hawks playoff game in nearly three decades.

“Coach was like, ‘You know what, we’ve got to try something new.’ And he looked, turned at me and said, ‘Marcus, guard him,'” the 22-year-old Celtics point guard recalled. “And that’s all he said. I just kind of looked like, ‘OK.'”

Smart ended up limiting Millsap to two points on 1-of-5 shooting the rest of the night, capping off the night by limiting the Hawks to 1-of-10 shooting overall and forcing two turnovers.

Following the game at the TD Garden in Boston, Smart dressed quickly. Dressed in a black-and-white hooded sweatshirt unbefitting a player who expected to land in front of cameras, he stepped up on the riser alone and shrugged away his individual impact in helping the Celtics, as the main defenseman, to a win that may have saved the team’s season.

“The revolution will not be televised,” the front of Smart’s sweatshirt read. Clearly, this was not true because the world got to catch a glimpse of Smart’s talent in a game in which he came out undoubtedly the hero.

Smart’s teammate, Boston shooting guard Evan Turner stated, “[Smart] kept [Millsap] on 45 for, like, 20 minutes. That sounds crazy, but Smart stopped him from getting 50. Make sure you put that in the paper.”

One sleeve of Smart’s post-game sweatshirt read “Breathe in, breathe out.” On the other sleeve, it read, “Rise against the haters.”

Smart shot just 28.9 percent (77-of-266) at the TD Garden this season, finishing a season with the lowest field goal percentage at home in nearly six decades. He also earned a $5,000 fine from the NBA for a hilariously bad and flagrant flop that caused him to turn sideways after a mediocre attempt to foul out the Hawks’ Kyle Korver with about 4:32 remaining in Game 3 on Friday, which the Celtics won 111-103.  (The NBA has an anti-flopping rule)

On Sunday, however, Smart appeared to show a different side to him, one that demonstrates he could very well be the Celtics’ next homegrown superstar. The second-year guard did a fine job of defending one of the Hawks’ top players.

Boston point guard Isaiah Thomas stated, after Sunday’s game, “You give Marcus Smart an assignment, he’s probably going to get it done no matter who he is playing against. He’s a hell of a competitor.”

Millsap himself even praised the youngster, saying, “He is a tough guy.”

“I’m a basketball player,” Smart said. “I don’t really define myself as any position, and I think that’s what’s been so unique about me growing up and playing ball. It’s kind of hard to define my position, and it’s kind of hard to see who you’re going to put on me. … As crazy as it sounds, yes, I’ve guarded a 7-footer [in Knicks rookie Kristaps] Porzingis and things like that. And going to guard other bigs, and then covering the guards, it’s tough. But I pride myself on defense and this team knows that, my teammates know that, and the coaches know that. And they trust me to do that.”

Smart knows he’s different from the average NBA player his age, and he is aware of the stress he can cause his coaches.

“I think I’ve given every coach I’ve played for a heart attack at least once,” he said. “But what player hasn’t? You’re going to mess up. You’re not perfect. But there’s definitely a line between being aggressive and in control. You’ve got to determine between the two. You can be aggressive while still in control. And I did get out of control a little bit tonight, but for the most part, I stayed pretty much in control.”

Nevertheless, his coach appears to be fine with this, as long as he continues to defend the way he did on Sunday night.

“His aggression, his competitiveness, his spirit, like, our team needs it,” Stevens said. “So, yeah, there’s going to be some times where he might take a shot or whatever the case may be that he’d like to have back, but he does a lot of good things that lead to winning and give you a chance to win. And defensive versatility’s at the top of that list.”

The Celtics and the Hawks will face off again for Game 5 in Atlanta on Tuesday night.

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 24: Marcus Smart #36 of the Boston Celtics dunks against the Atlanta Hawks during the fourth quarter of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden on April 24, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Article by Pablo Mena