Don’t look now, but here come the Boston Celtics!

Comments made by Marcus Smart critical of teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have helped Boston go from being a hot mess in the NBA, to a team that's just hot.

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It was just two weeks ago when the Boston Celtics were a hot mess.

Their defense was in shambles, a mere shell of the unit that has been a top-10 defensive staple for years.

Injuries, illnesses and health and safety protocols associated with COVID-19, had first-year coach Ime Udoka searching for a cluster of reliable, go-to players at a time when the Celtics were consistently inconsistent with their play.

No longer a hot mess, the Celtics right now are just hot.

They have won four of their last five games, which includes a 122-113 overtime win on Friday against the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.

And the catalyst of this change?

Marcus Smart.

He didn’t bring about this change with his defense, or a timely 3-pointer.

Smart’s verbal bomb directed at Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to specifically pass the ball more, was the uncomfortable but necessary conversation this team had to have.

Even though both Brown and Tatum downplayed Smart’s comments and their impact on winning, one thing we know.

This is not the same big lead-blowing, defensively inept crew we saw the first handful of games this season.

And if you examine the mile-markers in their journey this season, it’s hard to imagine that there's no connection between Smart’s comments following Boston blowing a 19-point lead to the Chicago Bulls, and the team’s improved play which just so happened to start right after Smart's comments.

“That's something that they're going to learn," Smart said after the loss to Chicago on Nov. 1. “They're still learning. We're proud of the progress they're making, but they're going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves but create for others on this team to open up the court for them later down in the game.”

Jaylen Brown suffered a hamstring injury which has kept him sidelined each of the last three games for Boston.

As for Tatum, there has been a noticeable uptick in his scoring, rebounding and defense in the five games since Smart’s comments.

So why are they both reluctant to give Smart credit for helping jumpstart this team’s recent run of success with his comments?

Because like many of today’s young stars, Tatum and Brown are focused on success coming about on their own terms.

So acknowledging that they needed a kick in the you-know-what to get going, well, that’s just not going to happen.

I asked Tatum about Smart’s comments.

“Personally, I mean, we talked about it — individually and had a team meeting, I guess,” Tatum said. “But I know how to play basketball. I’ve been doing it a long time, and I’m pretty successful at it.”

There’s an undeniable tension that exists with Smart on one side of the conversation while Tatum and Brown are on the other. It has the feel of that old axiom in our society that exists between the old guard - in this case, Smart - and the next generation which around here, is Tatum and Brown.

But the push-and-pull dynamic between these three is not necessarily a bad thing.

Because even if there’s disagreement on what has triggered the team’s improved play, it doesn’t take away from their shared motivation which is to win games and stop getting their asses kicked.

And that reality has transformed a team that was a hot mess just two weeks ago, into one that now...they’re just hot.