If you have ever watched Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart play defense before, you know it's a thing of a beauty. High school coaches everywhere should show their players video of Smart playing defense.
Fellow Celtics guard Kyrie Irving knows this very well.
A highlight machine himself, Irving says even he has to binge Smart clips:
“I just watched some of [Smart’s] highlights in college, as well as some of his playoff highlights, defensively and offensively, and it’s just unmatched,” said Irving, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports. “So, yeah, in my downtime I watch Marcus Smart highlights.”
Following Boston's 130-125 overtime win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, Irving gushed about how much he loves having Smart on the team, which seemed pretty appropriate given Smart's contributions that evening.
While Irving poured in 38 points, including two back-breaking 3-pointers in the extra session, it was Smart who was making all of the big plays all over the floor, coming up with big defensive stops, snatching offensive rebounds for putbacks and making crisp, clean passes.
On the surface, Smart's numbers this season may not jump out at you. He is averaging 6.9 points, 4.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. However, a deeper look into his statistics demonstrates just how important he is to the Celtics, as Smart has a plus-4 net rating this year.
The 24-year-old Smart, who played his collegiate basketball at Oklahoma State University, was originally selected by Boston with the sixth overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.
The Celtics, who slumped out to a 10-10 start this year, have won seven games in a row, with five of those victories coming by double digits.
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