One thing Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been working on is his 3-point shot. With a recent evident improvement in his shooting from beyond the arc, the 6-foot-4 combo guard shared his delight in how his hard work has been paying dividends:

“I’ve been putting in the work and eventually it was going to pay off, and it’s starting to, and I’m feeling good, and this team is feeling good,” Smart said, per Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “They keep giving me confidence and my confidence is going to stay up. Hopefully the shots keep falling.”

This season, Smart is averaging 1.4 made triples per ballgame. This is not exactly an outstanding number, and this does not by any means make him a 3-point specialist. As a matter of fact, Smart averaged the exact number 3-pointers last season.

However, what makes this impressive is how much he has improved his efficiency. Smart needed 4.6 attempts per ballgame last season to hit that mark, as he shot a rather unimpressive 30.1 percent from distance. This season, though, he is only taking 3.9 attempts from rainbow territory, and he has improved his clip all the way to 36.8 percent.

It is worth noting that his minutes are also down this year (29.9 last season to just 26.3 minutes per game this year), which makes his efficiency even more impressive.

Smart is an all-around contributor for the Celtics, and his intangibles are what make him stand out. However, adding a more effective 3-point shot to his arsenal will definitely go a long way for both himself and his team.