Entering this season as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics have struggled amidst a swarm of melodramas and internal frustration.

Just three days after saying the team wasn't playing together, shooting guard Marcus Smart had a much different tone after a 107-96 win over the Washington Wizards.

After the game, he told reporters:

“Tonight was fun for everybody. You could see that,” said Marcus Smart, who had 16 points. “Tonight the ball was popping. It was moving. We made every right play.”

Indeed, the Celtics tallied 26 assists on the night–including 12 from Kyrie Irving–to help snap a four-game skid.

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There has been no shortage of criticism from Irving himself, who has repeatedly chastised the team's younger players for their apparent lack of effort. The talk of Irving's impending free agency that resumed around the trade deadline surely did very little to help matters.

Still, Boston's record of 38-25 has been good enough for the no. 5 seed in the East at this point in the year, just three games back of the Indiana Pacers for the no. 3 seed. The Celtics would surely love to climb into the top three, given that if the playoffs began today they would be faced with a bloodbath of a series against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The rebounding battle remains a concern as Boston missed center Aaron Baynes for the 11th consecutive game on Friday night, but their success is likely to depend on the play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown down the stretch.

Tatum has made small strides in his second season, but it has hardly been the jump to superstardom that Boston fans were hoping for at the beginning of the year.