There are some players you have to actually watch to get a full understanding of just how good and impactful they are. Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart is one of those guys.
Not one for filling up box scores, Smart makes his impact in other ways: smothering defense, hustle plays, terrific passes and coming up with big plays at big moments.
Smart did pretty much all of that during the Celtics' 130-125 overtime win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, and for once, the box score actually reflected his contributions, as he finished with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
But even those numbers didn't do his performance justice.
Just ask Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, who gushed about Smart's versatility after the game, per Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald.
“Well, today we played him at the 5,” said Stevens. “So Smart now has officially done it all, because he’s played every position for us but he’s never played the five and I think today, at the end of the game, Markieff [Morris] was guarding him and he was the one setting a lot of the screens. He is the kind of the guy that does a lot for us, and those two rebounds in overtime were huge I thought.”
Boston forward Marcus Morris recalled a couple of specific instances where Smart made big plays, including a pair of offensive rebounds late in the game.
“Everybody had to rebound, block out,” said Morris. “Smarty did get two big offensive rebounds at the end, and it was very, very good for us. You know, Smarty type of things. We just pulled it out, man. There was five guys out there. We played hard. We competed. We played together, and we understood what it took to get the W.”
Wizards head coach Scott Brooks even added that Smart “always seemed to be around.”
That's Marcus Smart, alright, and it's hard to imagine where the Celtics would be without him this season.
Boston is currently 17-10 and is riding a seven-game winning streak. It will host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
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