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Marcus Smart thinks he can help his teammates win, and sees playing point guard as his role in doing it

Justin Quinn
·3 min read
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After All-Star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum went off for the third-highest point total of his career, veteran point guard Marcus Smart had plenty to say to the press regarding the team’s uneven play of late.

The Texan guard spoke with the media after Tatum’s 51 points helped thrash the Wizards 116 – 87 Sunday afternoon, Smart’s first game back after an extended absence sparked by a thigh contusion and extended when he came down with COVID-19 for the second time of his NBA career. Explaining what he did ahead of the historic performance from his teammate, the longest-tenured Celtic offered up his account of how things went before Boston stepped onto the court.

“Right before the game, I … pulled everybody aside right before the tipoff, and just told everybody I love them, ‘I love all you guys’,” said Smart.

“I’m here and proud, and really looking for everybody’s success,” he continued.

“I know, obviously, things haven’t been going our way, but we just have to go out there and do what we know we ought to do. I pulled Jayson (Tatum), Jaylen (Brown), told them separately, by themselves. Then I went down with everyone on the team individually and told them I appreciate them, I’m proud of them.”

“This is what you do — just go out there and keep doing it,” related the Flower Mound native.

“I told Jaylen and Jayson to keep playing, don’t worry about it,” added Smart.

“I told Jayson specifically, ‘I know you haven’t hit a 3 in about 20 attempts. Just keep shooting; I’ll make sure I find you and get you going and get you open. Just shoot the ball and don’t even think about it. Don’t worry about anything else — just play the game of basketball. Don’t worry about anything else in playing a game, just play the right way. Defense gives you the shot, you take it. They give you the drive, you drive. They come on you help, you make the right read, and we go from there.'”

“He and Jaylen came out (of) their shell today,” said the veteran guard. “Being able to take that control as the point guard, that’s my job. I’ve been trying this whole season to do it.

With COVID-19 and other injuries afflicting both Smart and the Celtics considerably in yet another season, one can read between the lines of the Oklahoma State product’s words to see some pride in his ability to help spark performances like Tatum’s 51-point explosion.

And with plenty of data that pairing Smart alongside Dennis Schroder to be a sub-optimal state of affairs and yet another data point he can thrive as a true floor general, it might be worth leaning into Smart at the 1 for the remainder of the season to see if it produces more games like the Wizards blowout.

Assuming, of course, he is with the team beyond the Feb. 10 trade deadline.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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