Vincent Frank
Marcus Smart and the Boston Celtics sit at a disastrous 2-5 following Monday night’s brutal home loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Boston held a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter before seeing Chicago outscore the team by a margin of 39-11 in the final stanza.
It’s the latest example of Boston struggling to close out games early in Ime Udoka’s tenure as the team’s head coach.
As for Smart, he decided it made sense to blast star teammates Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum after the game. It wasn’t subtle and it could lead to a further rift within the locker room.
“I would just like to play basketball. Every team knows we are trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen and every team is programmed and studies to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody’s scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball,” Marcus Smart told reporters.
“They don’t want to pass the ball and that’s something that they’re going to learn. They’re still learning and we’re proud of the progress they are making but they are going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves but create for others on this team.”
Again, that’s not in any way subtle.
Related: Updated 2021-22 NBA power rankings
Is Marcus Smart on to something with the Boston Celtics?
One could easily conclude that Smart is attempting to be a veteran presence on a team that’s relying on two young stars to lead the way.
Even then, it might not be seen that way within the locker room. Look at it this way, Smart is averaging a mere 4.8 assists per game as Boston’s starting point guard. He had all of zero assists in 33 minutes of action Monday night.
Meanwhile, the two youngsters combined for six of Boston’s mere 20 assists on the evening. While that’s not great, it tells us a story of team-wide struggles distributing the ball.
That displayed itself in an ugly manner during Boston’s ugly fourth-quarter performance against Chicago in which it scored 11 points on 26% shooting from the field while dishing out a grand total of two assists.
Related: Updated NBA Playoff and championship predictions
The question now becomes where Marcus Smart and the Celtics go from here. He was subjected to trade rumors during the off-season prior to signing a four-year, $76.49 million extension. The veteran entered Monday’s action averaging 7.4 points on an laughable 26% shooting from the field.
As for Boston, this doesn’t even look like a playoff team right now. There’s major struggles on both ends of the court. Having a split within the locker room isn’t going to help matters. That’s for sure.
