Celtics benefitting from playing "Smart" Basketball

Pass the ball more and play good defense for longer stretches, are messages Marcus Smart has been preaching since November. The sermon no longer falls upon deaf ears. And the C's ain't lookin' back.

By A. Sherrod Blakely

NEW YORK – Back in November, when Marcus Smart (sarcastic tone mode, activated) had the audacity to point out how Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown needed to pass the ball more, he was vilified by many in Celtics Nation.

Tatum and Brown are elite, top-shelf scorers which is the way of the world in this NBA generation of superstar talent.

That’s not Smart.

Tatum and Brown are established pillars of this franchise, now and going forward.

He’s an important cog, but that’s not Smart.

Tatum and Brown are good defenders, but their effort at that end of the floor has a tendency to wane from time to time.

That too is not Smart.

So when Smart pointed out what the J’s needed to do to help the team months ago, Smart’s words were seen by some as divisive because he made them public rather than talked with them about it behind closed doors.

And for some that justified Smart’s words, no matter how truthful they were, initially falling upon deaf ears to those who needed to heed his words the most - Tatum and Brown.

Fast forward to the present where the Celtics (30-25) are no longer playing like a middle-of-the-road, .500 basketball team, but one that’s on the cusp of competing for one of the top spots in the East.

Boston’s five-game winning streak has them five games above.500 for the first time all season. In addition, the Celtics are only 4.5 games behind the Miami Heat (a team Boston beat by 30 points last week) for the best record in the East.

Several factors have gone into the team’s success, but none more important than the unflappable confidence of Marcus Smart.

While it’s true he has played noticeably better since returning to the lineup following a stint in health and safety protocol while also nursing a bruised thigh injury, his words as well as his play have fueled this team’s success.

Since returning to the lineup, the Celtics are 7-1.

In the last eight games, Marcus Smart has a league-best defensive rating of 89.3. But what Smart’s doing at that end of the floor is contagious when you consider seven of the top nine defensive ratings in the last eight games, are Celtics players.

And that brings us to the uncomfortable truth behind this team’s recent rise in the standings.

Tatum and Brown are extremely talented. But like so many of today’s young rising stars, they have their own ideas on how to handle their success, their play and their impact on the court.

It has worked well if all they want is to put up numbers.

But winning has required a level of sacrifice, something Smart put out there several weeks ago that, until recently, didn’t gain nearly as much traction with the team’s top-two players (Tatum and Brown) as it should have.

Today, a different story.

Tatum’s assists numbers in January (4.6) and February (5.7) are at a career-high level.

Brown has become a much more willing passer as well, and his defense (92.2 defensive rating in the last eight games) has gone up a level or two.

There’s little doubt that they are the ones leading this team both now and in the future. In the last couple of weeks, there has been more talk than ever about how Brown has become a more vocal leader in the locker room, delivering the kind of leadership that head coach Ime Udoka has been looking for from him and Tatum to some extent, all season.

And while they are growing into being the kind of leaders that the Celtics will need in the future, let’s not forget the role that present-day Smart has played in helping this team’s success.

His play has certainly been a plus for Boston.

But the purpose behind his words, and the actions he has taken of late to back them up, is the secret sauce to this team’s recent surge up in the standings.

Smart’s career is one that’s filled with its share of adversity on and off the court. But those tough times hardened him in a way that has only strengthened his resolve, knowing better days are around the corner.

That voice of experience and the lessons that come with it is always in Smart’s ear.

Now he’s playing with teammates who can finally hear it, too.